Overview

• Teams from Vanderbilt University and UC San Diego published in Nature Communications an integrated pipeline that combines stable isotope tracing, multi-scale microscopy and AI-driven image analysis to chart glucose metabolism at organelle resolution
• Live mice infused with isotopically labeled glucose enabled researchers to track how carbons from glucose are incorporated into glycogen, lipid droplets, mitochondria and other cellular compartments over time
• 3D electron tomography uncovered glycogen clustering on lipid droplets adjacent to endoplasmic reticulum membranes and mitochondria, revealing a coordinated subcellular architecture
• The study showed that contacts between mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum shift dynamically in response to changes in blood glucose levels, highlighting functional crosstalk in energy regulation
• The team is extending this organizational framework to investigate nutrient distribution and metabolic dysregulation in models of diabetes, obesity, cancer, aging and neurodegeneration