Christopher J. Halbrook
Assistant Professor – Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Member – Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Biography
Christopher J. Halbrook, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine, where he is also a member of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCI Cancer Research Institute, UCI Stem Cell Research Center, and UCI Institute for Immunology. A scholar in the field of cancer metabolism and tumor microenvironment biology, Halbrook focuses on understanding metabolic interactions between cancer cells and their surrounding environment in pancreatic cancer, with particular emphasis on how these interactions influence therapy resistance and immune suppression.
Halbrook is an elected member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Sky Foundation and serves as Associate Editor for the journal Cancer and Metabolism. He has received the NIH Pathway to Independence Award from the National Cancer Institute, the V Scholar Award from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, the Young Investigator in Pancreatology Award from the American Pancreatic Association Foundation, and the Career Development Award in Translational Cancer Research from the Tower Cancer Research Foundation. His work has been highlighted in multiple journals including Nature Cancer, Cancer Discovery, and Nature Reviews Cancer.
Halbrook has published over 30 peer-reviewed research articles in journals such as Nature, Cell, Cell Metabolism, and Nature Cancer. His research program is supported by an R37 MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute and an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant. Halbrook received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stony Brook University and completed postdoctoral training in Cancer Biology at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Chemistry: Chemical Biology Track, Stony Brook University, 2015
- B.S. in Chemistry: Biochemical Option, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, 2008
Distinctions
- NIH Pathway to Independence Award – National Cancer Institute, 2020
- Career Development Award in Translational Cancer Research – Tower Cancer Research Foundation, 2023
- Young Investigator in Pancreatology / Pfizer Award – American Pancreatic Association Foundation, 2023
- Short Talk Award - Fusion Conference on Metabolism in Health and Disease, 2022
- V Scholar Award - V Foundation for Cancer Research, 2021
- Short Talk Award - Cancer Research UK Beatson International Conference, 2018
- 2017 Trainee Article of the Year – Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2018
- Metabolomics Symposium Scholarship – The Mayo Clinic, 2015
- Poster Award - University of Michigan Cancer Immunotherapy Efficacy, Autoimmunity, Resistance Symposium, 2019
- Trevisian-Feuger Award - University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, 2008
Areas of Expertise
- Pancreatic Cancer Biology
- Tumor Metabolic Crosstalk
- Macrophage Pyrimidine Secretion
- Asparagine Biosynthesis Pathways
- Mevalonate Pathway Inhibition
- Liver Metastasis Targeting
- Gemcitabine Resistance Mechanisms
Recent Publications
- Radyk M.D., Nelson B.S., Ruckert M.T., Halbrook C.J., Shan M., Alektiar J.M., Lavoie B.L., Salvatore L., Yan W., Perricone M.D., Buscher K., Wood A., Hong H.S., Sajjakulnukit P., Zhang L., Corfas G., Bednar F., Frankel T.L., Pasca di Magliano M., Colacino J.A., et al., “NADPH-producing enzymes restrict the formation of pancreatic precancerous lesions” (opens in new tab), Nature Metabolism, 2026.
- Beutel AK, Halbrook CJ, Ekizce M, Lindenmayer J, Roger E, Calderon SE, Seufferlein T, Kleger A, Gout J, Perkhofer L, “Homologous Repair-Deficient Pancreatic Cancer: Refined Targeting of DNA Damage Response is an Effective Therapeutic Strategy” (opens in new tab), United European Gastroenterology Journal, vol. 13, pp. 1328-1342, 2025.
- Whyte D, Fisher SL, McKenzie CGJ, Sumpton D, Dhayade S, Dornier E, Moore M, Novo D, Peters J, Wiesheu R, Gounis MD, Watt DM, Mackey JBG, McFarlane AJ, Fercoq F, Dehesa Caballero C, Redmond KL, Mitchell LE, Anderson E, Thomson G, et al., “Uridine phosphorylase-1 supports metastasis by altering immune and extracellular matrix landscapes” (opens in new tab), EMBO Reports, vol. 26, pp. 4248-4282, 2025.
- Lim RM, Lu A, Chuang BM, Anaraki C, Chu B, Halbrook CJ, Edinger AL, “CARMIL1-AA selectively inhibits macropinocytosis while sparing autophagy” (opens in new tab), Molecular Biology of the Cell, vol. 36, 2024.
- Alektiar JM, Shan M, Radyk MD, Zhang L, Halbrook CJ, Lin L, Espinoza C, Mier IF, Lavoie BL, Salvatore L, Pasca di Magliano M, Cantley LC, Mueller JL, Lyssiotis CA, “Malic enzyme 1 knockout has no deleterious phenotype and is favored in the male germline under standard laboratory conditions” (opens in new tab), PLoS One, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. e0303577, 2024.
- Alcolea MP, Alonso-Curbelo D, Ambrogio C, Bullman S, Correia AL, Ernst A, Halbrook CJ, Kelly GL, Lund AW, Quail DF, Ruscetti M, Shema E, Stromnes IM, Tam WL, “Cancer Hallmarks: Piecing the Puzzle Together” (opens in new tab), Cancer Discovery, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 674-682, 2024.
- Nwosu ZC, Ward MH, Sajjakulnukit P, Poudel P, Ragulan C, Kasperek S, Radyk M, Sutton D, Menjivar RE, Andren A, Saab JA, Tolstyka Z, Brown K, Lee HJ, Dzierozynski LN, He X, PS3 H, Ugras J, Nyamundanda G, Zhang L, et al., “Uridine-derived ribose fuels glucose-restricted pancreatic cancer” (opens in new tab), Nature, vol. 618, pp. 151-158, 2023.
- Menjivar RE, Nwosu ZC, Du W, Donahue KL, Espinoza C, Brown K, Velez-Delgado A, Yan W, Lima F, Bischoff A, Kadiyala P, Salas-Escabillas D, Crawford HC, Bednar F, Carpenter E, Zhang Y, Halbrook CJ, Lyssiotis CA, Pasca di Magliano P, “Arginase 1 is a Key Driver of Immune Suppression in Pancreatic Cancer” (opens in new tab), eLife, vol. 12, 2023.
- Singha MK, Zimak J, Levine SR, Dai N, Hong C, Anaraki C, Gupta M, Halbrook CJ, Atwood SX, Spitale RC, “An Optimized Enzyme-Nucleobase Pair Enables In Vivo RNA Metabolic Labeling with Improved Cell-Specificity” (opens in new tab), Biochemistry, vol. 61, no. 23, pp. 2638-42, 2022.
- Halbrook CJ, Thurston G, Boyer S, Anaraki C, Jiménez J, McCarthy A, Steele NG, Kerk SA, Hong H, Lin L, Law F, Felton C, Scipioni L, Sajjakulnukit P, Andren A, Beutel AK, Singh R, Nelson BS, Van Den Bergh F, Krall AS, et al., “Differential integrated stress response and asparagine production drive symbiosis and therapy resistance of pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells” (opens in new tab), Nature Cancer, vol. 3, no. 11, pp. 1386-403, 2022.
- Boyer SB, Lee HJ, Steele NG, Zhang L, Sajjakulnukit P, Andren A, Ward MH, Singh R, Basrur V, Zhang Y, Nesvizhskii AI, Pasca di Magliano M, Halbrook CJ, Lyssiotis CA, “Multi-omic Characterization of Pancreatic Cancer-Associated Macrophage Polarization Reveals Deregulated Metabolic Programs Driven by the GMCSF-PI3K Pathway” (opens in new tab), eLife, vol. 11, pp. e73796, 2022.
- Kerk SA, Lin L, Myers A, Sutton DJ, Andren A, Sajjakulnukit P, Zhang L, Zhang Y, Jiménez JA, Nelson BS, Chen B, Robinson A, Thurston G, Kemp S, Steele NG, Hoffman MT, Wen HJ, Long D, Ackenhusen SE, Ramos J, et al., “Metabolic requirement for GOT2 in pancreatic cancer depends on environmental context” (opens in new tab), eLife, vol. 11, pp. e73245, 2022.
- Beutel AK, Halbrook CJ, “Barriers and Opportunities for Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer Therapy” (opens in new tab), American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology, vol. 324, pp. C540-C552, 2022.
- Kim PK, Halbrook CJ, Kerk SA, Radyk M, Wisner S, Kremer DM, Sajjakulnukit P, Andren A, Hou SW, Trivedi A, Thurston G, Anand A, Yan L, Salamanca-Cardona L, Welling SD, Zhang L, Pratt MR, Keshari KR, Ying H, Lyssiotis CA, “Hyaluronic acid fuels pancreatic cancer cell growth” (opens in new tab), eLife, vol. 10, 2021.
- Zhou Z, Torres M, Sha H, Halbrook CJ, Van den Bergh F, Reinert B, Yamada T, Wang S, Luo Y, Hunter A, Wang C, Sanderson TH, Lui M, Taylor A, Sesaki H, Lyssiotis CA, Wu J, Kersten S, Beard D, Qi L, “Endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation regulates mitochondrial dynamics in brown adipocytes” (opens in new tab), Science, vol. 368, no. 6486, pp. 54-60, 2020.
- Perusina Lanfranca M, Zhang Y, Girgis A, Kasselman S, Lazarus J, Kryczek I, Delrosario L, Rhim A, Koneva L, Sartor M, Sun L, Halbrook C, Nathan H, Shi J, Crawford HC, Pasca di Magliano M, Zou W, Frankel TL, “Interleukin 22 Signaling Regulates Acinar Cell Plasticity to Promote Pancreatic Tumor Development in Mice” (opens in new tab), Gastroenterology, vol. 158, no. 5, pp. 1417-1432, 2020.
- Nelson BS, Lin L, Kremer DM, Sousa CM, Cotta-Ramusino C, Myers A, Ramos J, Gao T, Kovalenko I, Wilder-Romans K, Dresser J, Davis M, Nwosu Z, Campit S, Mashadova O, Nicolay B, Tolstyka Z, Halbrook CJ, Chandrasekaran S, Asara JM, et al., “Tissue of Origin Dictates GOT1 Dependence and Confers Synthetic Lethality to Radiotherapy” (opens in new tab), Cancer and Metabolism, vol. 8, pp. 1, 2020.
- Walter LA, Lin YH, Halbrook CJ, Chuh KN, He L, Pedowitz NJ, Batt AR, Brennan CK, Stiles BL, Lyssiotis CA, Pratt MR, “Inhibiting the biosynthesis of UDP-GlcNAc lowers O-GlcNAcylated levels and sensitizes cancer to environmental stress” (opens in new tab), Biochemistry, vol. 59, no. 34, pp. 3169-3179, 2019.
- Wang L, Yang H, Zamparone A, Diolaiti D, Palmbos P, Abel E, Purohit V, Dolgalev I, Rhim A, Ljungman M, Hadju C, Halbrook CJ, Bar-Sagi D, Pasca di Magliano M, Crawford H, Simeone D, “ATDC is required for the initiaion of Kras-induced tumorigenesis” (opens in new tab), Genes and Development, vol. 33, pp. 641-655, 2019.
- Halbrook CJ, Wahl DR, Lyssiotis CA, “Running the Light: Nucleotide Metabolism Drives Bypass of Senescence in Cancer” (opens in new tab), Trends in Biochemical Sciences, vol. 44, no. 12, pp. 991-993, 2019.
Most Cited Publications
- Sousa CM, Biancur DE, Wang X, Halbrook CJ, Sherman MH, Zhang L, Kremer D, Hwang RF, Witkiewicz AK, Ying H, Asara JM, Evans RM, Cantley LC, Lyssiotis CA, Kimmelman AC, “Pancreatic tumor-associated stellate cells support cancer cell metabolism through autophagy-dependent alanine secretion” (opens in new tab), Nature, vol. 536, pp. 479-483, 2016.
- Halbrook CJ, Pasca di Magliano M, Lyssiotis CA, Maitra A, “Pancreatic Cancer: Advances and Challenges” (opens in new tab), Cell, vol. 186, pp. 1729-1754, 2023.
- Ardito CM, Gruner BM, Takeuchi KK, Lubeseder-Martellato C, Teichmann N, Mazur PK, Delgiorno KE, Carpenter ES, Halbrook CJ, Hall JC, Pal D, Briel T, Herner A, Trajkovic-Arsic M, Sipos B, Liou GY, Storz P, Murray NR, Threadgill DW, Sibilia M, et al., “EGF receptor is required for KRAS-induced pancreatic tumorigenesis” (opens in new tab), Cancer Cell, vol. 22, pp. 304-317, 2012.
- Halbrook CJ, Pontious C, Lee HJ, Kovalenko I, Zhang Y, Lapienyte L, Dreyer S, Sajjakulnukit P, Kremer DM, Zhang L, Nelson B, Hong H, Kemp S, Crawford HC, Bianken A, Chang D, Morton JP, Pasca di Magliano M, Lyssiotis CA, “Macrophage Released Pyrimidines Inhibit Gemcitabine Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer” (opens in new tab), Cell Metabolism, vol. 29, pp. 1390-1399, 2019.
- Halbrook CJ, Lyssiotis CA, “Employing metabolism to improve the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer” (opens in new tab), Cancer Cell, vol. 31, pp. 5-19, 2017.
- Zhang Y, Lazarus J, Steele NG, Yan W, Lee HJ, Nwosu ZC, Halbrook CJ, Menjivar RE, Kemp SB, Sirihorachai V, Velez-Delgado A, Donahue K, Carpenter ES, Brown KL, Irizarry-Negron V, Nevison AC, Vinta A, Anderson MA, Crawford HC, Lyssiotis CA, et al., “Regulatory T-cell Depletion Alters the Tumor Microenvironment and Accelerates Pancreatic Carcinogenesis” (opens in new tab), Cancer Discovery, vol. 0, no. 3, pp. 422-439, 2020.
- Steele NG, Biffi G, Kemp SB, Zhang Y, Drouillard D, Syu L, Hao Y, Oni TE, Brosnan E, Elyada E, Doshi A, Hansma C, Espinoza C, Abbas A, The S, Irizarry-Negron V, Halbrook CJ, Franks NE, Hoffman MT, Brown K, et al., “Inhibition of Hedgehog Signaling Alters Fibroblast Composition in Pancreatic Cancer” (opens in new tab), Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 27, pp. 2023-2037, 2021.
- Kremer DM, Nelson BS, Lin L, Yarosz EL, Halbrook CJ, Kerk SA, Sajjakulnukit P, Myers A, Thurston G, Hou SW, Carpenter ES, Andren AC, Nwosu ZC, Cusmano N, Wisner S, Mbah NE, Shan M, Das NK, Magnuson B, Little AC, et al., “GOT1 inhibition promotes pancreatic cancer cell death by ferroptosis” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 4860, 2021.
- Krall AS, Mullen PJ, Surjono F, Momcilovic M, Schmid WE, Halbrook CJ, Thambundit A, Mittelman SD, Lyssiotis CA, Shackelford DB, Knott SRV, Christofk HR, “Asparagine couples mitochondrial respiration to ATF4 activity and tumor growth” (opens in new tab), Cell Metabolism, vol. 33, pp. 1013-1026, 2021.
- Zhou W, Yao Y, Scott A, Wilder-Romans K, Dresser J, Pratt D, Sajjakulnukit P, Halbrook CJ, Nelson BS, Sun H, Werner CK, Zhao SG, Davis M, Morgan MA, Rehemtualla A, Gatto F, Xiong J, Zhang L, Castro M, Lowenstein P, et al., “Purine metabolism regulates DNA repair and therapy resistance in glioblastoma” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 3811, 2020.
Contact Information
Website: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/halbrooklab/
Email: chalbroo@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-0046
Return to topThis profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 4/23/2026.