PROJECT
SUPERVISORS

Project Supervisor

Maria Rodriguez Colman

Background

Maria Rodriguez Colman is originally from Argentina and obtained her PhD at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, IRB Lleida (Catalunya, Spain). During her postdoc in Utrecht, the Netherlands in the group of Prof. B. Burgering at the UMCU, she I started a research line using organoids to disclose the role of metabolism in stem cell function and differentiation. She showed that different metabolic footprints define different cell types in the intestine, and that a ‘metabolic teamwork’ between these cell types supports intestinal homeostasis.

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Importantly, she pioneered the application of organoid technology to metabolic studies by adapting and developing numerous techniques, such as live imaging, metabolomics and bioenergetics measurements. Since 2020 she is appointed Associate Professor at the Center for Molecular Medicine (CMM) at UMC Utrecht. The Rodriguez Colman Lab investigates the “Metabolism of Stem Cells and Cancer” and is on the front of investigating metabolism at the subcellular, cellular and tissue scale.

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Research

the Center for Molecular Medicine at the University Medical Center Utrecht (CMM, UMC Utrecht), and Oncode Institute (NL). We are interested in how cellular metabolism is intertwined with every process in the cell. We study the crosstalk between cell signaling, metabolism, and epigenetics in the context of normal tissue homeostasis and cancer. The intestine undergoes periodic and drastic changes in metabolites during fasting and feeding periods, yet little is known about how cellular metabolism regulates gut function, its impact on cancer development, or chemotherapy response.

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Our lab utilizes several research models, including human and mouse-derived organoids engineered with genetically encoded sensors to address cellular metabolism, cell signaling, and epigenetic changes simultaneously and with high temporal and subcellular resolution. These sensors analysed by machine-learning-based methods, in combination with other technologies in our lab i.a.., metabolomics and bioenergetic analysis, enable us to unveil the impact of metabolism on the fundamental mechanisms of tissue development, homeostasis, and on tumorigenesis and chemotherapy response.

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Publications

Interplay between metabolic identities in the intestinal crypt supports stem cell function. Rodríguez-Colman MJ, et al., Nature, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21673

Mitochondria define intestinal stem cell differentiation downstream of a FOXO/Notch axis. M.C. Ludikhuize, …, M.J. Rodríguez Colman✉. Cell Metabolism, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2020.10.005

Rewiring glucose metabolism improves 5-FU efficacy in p53-deficient/KRASG12D glycolytic colorectal tumors. 2022 Communications Biology https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-04055-8

Ludikhuize, M. C., Meerlo, M., Burgering, B. M. T. & Rodríguez Colman, M. J. Protocol to profile the bioenergetics of organoids using Seahorse. STAR Protocols 2, 100386 (2021). https://doi.org:10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100386

Rodriguez-Colman, M.J., Dansen, T.B. & Burgering, B.M.T. FOXO transcription factors as mediators of stress adaptation. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 25, 46–64 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-023-00649-0