Nine years after her first Vallee Visiting Professorship (VVP), Dr Karen Vousden (Francis Crick Institute) returned to the USA where she was hosted by Dr Marcus Goncalves at New York University Langone Health. Her appointment as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine gave her access to NYU’s vibrant research environment which fostered rich discussions around cancer metabolism and dietary modulation.

Despite the housing challenges Manhattan presents, a conveniently located apartment enabled full engagement with NYU’s research community. The visit included seminars at NYU’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and Institute for Systems Genetics, as well as invited lectures at Princeton and Yale, facilitating interaction with students and faculty.

Highlights included collaborative exchanges around nutrient manipulation in cancer models, particularly amino acid and vitamin depletion strategies, fructose’s role in obesity, and shared RNA-seq data in cachexic adipocytes. Insights from Rich Possemato’s lab sparked compelling conversations on cholesterol metabolism, ROS-driven ferroptosis, and vitamin K pathways. Discussions with Thales Papagiannakopoulos and others further explored dietary impacts on KRAS-driven cancers and oxidative stress.

The visit also laid the groundwork for new collaborations with Jeff Pessin on TIGAR biology, and with Tobias Janowitz at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, focusing on obesity and neurological phenotypes in engineered mouse models.

Alongside the scientific depth, this VVP fostered lasting relationships and professional camaraderie, reinforcing the Vallee Foundation’s mission to catalyze global collaboration and innovation in biomedicine.