Scott Dixon

Biography

As a graduate student and short-term postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto I studied genetic networks that regulate cell viability in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and in the single-celled eukaryotes S. cerevisiae and S. pombe, respectively. As a postdoctoral fellow, I demonstrated that the small molecule erastin inhibits the membrane cystine/glutamate transporter system xc-, depletes the cell of glutathione and activates a novel iron-dependent, oxidative cell death pathway termed ferroptosis. Currently a major goal of my lab is to understand the interaction between intracellular metabolism and cell death. 

Research Interest

My lab is interested in the relationship between cell death and metabolism. Using techniques drawn from many disciplines my laboratory is investigating how perturbation of intracellular metabolic networks can result in novel forms of cell death, such as ferroptosis. We are interested in applying this knowledge to find new ways to treat diseases characterized by insufficient (e.g. cancer) or excessive (e.g. neurodegeneration) cell death. His research program integrates techniques and model systems including small molecule and proteomic screening, biochemical analysis of protein function and model organism genetics.