National Cancer Institute - Cancer.gov

Dan Crooks, Ph.D.

Daniel Crooks, Ph.D.

  • Center for Cancer Research
  • National Cancer Institute
Staff Scientist
Urologic Oncology Branch
Acting Director, CCR Clinical Cancer Metabolism Facility

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Dr. Crooks’ research is focused on the characterization of altered tumor and mitochondrial metabolism in hereditary cancers, including those caused by mutations in the Krebs cycle enzymes fumarate hydratase (HLRCC) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH-RCC), as well as renal tumors associated with Birt-Hogg-Dubé and von Hippel-Lindau syndromes. The approach is to utilize stable isotope-resolved metabolomics, genomics, transcriptomic, proteomic and molecular techniques to identify targetable metabolic alterations in human tumors and tumor cells, to offer new therapeutic possibilities for these unique patient populations. Dr. Crooks is also the Acting Director of the CCR Clinical Cancer Metabolism Facility located in NIH Building 10 for the conduct of collaborative intramural metabolomics studies and metabolic imaging, with a focus on targeted analysis of human tissue samples, isotope-resolved metabolomics studies of patient-derived tissues and cells, and utilization of pre-clinical and human metabolic imaging technologies.

Areas of Expertise

Metabolomics
Kidney Cancer
Hereditary Cancer Syndromes

Publications

Selected Key Publications

Mitochondrial DNA alterations underlie an irreversible shift to aerobic glycolysis in fumarate hydratase-deficient renal cancer.

Crooks DR, Maio N, Lang M, Ricketts CJ, Vocke CD, Gurram S, Turan S, Kim YY, Cawthon GM, Sohelian F, De Val N, Pfeiffer RM, Jailwala P, Tandon M, Tran B, Fan TW, Lane AN, Ried T, Wangsa D, Malayeri AA, Merino MJ, Yang Y, Meier JL, Ball MW, Rouault TA, Srinivasan R, Linehan WM.
Sci Signal. 2021 Jan 5;14(664):eabc4436.

Cryptic Splice Mutation in the Fumarate Hydratase Gene in Patients With Clinical Manifestations of Hereditary Leiomyomatosis and Renal Cell Cancer (HLRCC).

Crooks DR, Cawthon GM, Fitzsimmons CM, Perez M, Ricketts CJ, Vocke CD, Yang Y, Middelton L, Nielsen D, Schmidt LS, Tandon M, Merino MJ, Ball MW, Meier JL, Batista PJ, Linehan WM.
Hum Mol Genet. 2023 Nov 3;32(22):3135-3145.

Metabolic Labeling of Cultured Mammalian Cells for Stable Isotope-Resolved Metabolomics: Practical Aspects of Tissue Culture and Sample Extraction.

Crooks DR, Fan TW, Linehan WM.
Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1928:1-27. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9027-6_1. 2021.

Imaging of Glucose Metabolism by 13C-MRI Distinguishes Pancreatic Cancer Subtypes in Mice.

Kishimoto S, Brender JR, Crooks DR, Matsumoto S, Seki T, Oshima N, Merkle H, Lin P, Reed G, Chen AP, Ardenkjaer-Larsen JH, Munasinghe J, Saito K, Yamamoto K, Choyke PL, Mitchell J, Lane AN, Fan TW, Linehan WM, Krishna MC.
Elife. 2019 Aug 13;8:e46312. doi: 10.7554/eLife.46312.

Acute loss of iron-sulfur clusters results in metabolic reprogramming and generation of lipid droplets in mammalian cells.

Crooks DR, Maio N, Lane AN, Jarnik M, Higashi RM, Haller RG, Yang Y, Fan TW, Linehan WM, Rouault TA.
J Biol Chem. 2018 May 25;293(21):8297-8311. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA118.001885.