Sergey Krupenko, PhD

sergey_krupenko@unc.edu
704-250-5053

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Sergey A. Krupenko, PhD

Professor of Nutrition

Sergey A. Krupenko, PhD, joined the UNC Nutrition Research Institute in 2014. Dr. Krupenko’s research focuses on vitamin folate and its role in liver function and cancer disease. His goal is to understand how we can fight cancer by controlling the diet and nutrient supplements. “There are molecular strings in the human organism, which can be pulled by the right combinations of nutrients to activate resistance to tumor formation or to slow down cancer development. We have to identify these links and make them work,” he said. Dr. Krupenko has received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry from Byelorussian State University and a PhD in Biochemistry at the Byelorussian Academy of Sciences. Before joining the NRI, he was a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina. He has a joint appointment as a Professor of Nutrition at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill.

Sergey A. Krupenko, PhD, joined the UNC Nutrition Research Institute in 2014. Dr. Krupenko’s research focuses on vitamin folate and its role in liver function and cancer disease. His goal is to understand how we can fight cancer by controlling the diet and nutrient supplements.

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“There are molecular strings in the human organism, which can be pulled by the right combinations of nutrients to activate resistance to tumor formation or to slow down cancer development. We have to identify these links and make them work,” he said. Dr. Krupenko has received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry from Byelorussian State University and a PhD in Biochemistry at the Byelorussian Academy of Sciences. Before joining the NRI, he was a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina. He has a joint appointment as a Professor of Nutrition at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill.

Krupenko’s Team

In the News

Diet and Extension of Lifespan

Feb 2, 2015

Life expectancy keeps growing in developed countries, approaching 90 years on average in some. There is a forecast that more than 50 percent of girls born in the U.S. after 2010 will live to become 100 years or even older, and that the first person to live up to 150 years has already been born.

Sergey A. Krupenko, Ph.D.

Jun 26, 2014

Sergey A. Krupenko, Ph.D., joined the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) in 2014. Dr. Krupenko’s research focuses on vitamin folate and its role in liver function and cancer disease. His goal is to understand how we can fight cancer by controlling the diet and...

 

Publications

2025

Probing the metabolic regulator and candidate tumor suppressor ALDH1L1 as a target for non-small cell lung cancer gene therapy

Differential Expression of One-Carbon Pathway Enzyme ALDH1L1 Is Linked to Tumorigenicity of Low-Grade Bladder Cancer Cells Through Metabolic Reprogramming

Transgenerational diabetogenic effects of preconception exposure to inorganic arsenic in C57BL/6 mice are associated with dysregulation of DNA methylation and gene expression in G1 and G2 offspring

Update of the sideroflexin (SLC56) gene family

2024
Untargeted Metabolomics Reveals Dysregulation of Glycine- and Serine-Coupled Metabolic Pathways in an ALDH1L1-Dependent Manner In Vivo

Metabolism of inorganic arsenic in mice carrying the human AS3MT gene and fed folate deficient or folate supplemented diet

Further delineation of the phenotypic and metabolomic profile of ALDH1L2-related neurodevelopmental disorder

2023
Pancreatic islet protection at the expense of secretory function involves serine-linked mitochondrial one-carbon metabolism.

Distinct inflammatory Th17 subsets emerge in autoimmunity and infection.

2022

Exploratory Metabolomics Underscores the Folate Enzyme ALDH1L1 as a Regulator of Glycine and Methylation Reactions.

Sex-Specific Metabolic Effects of Dietary Folate Withdrawal in Wild-Type and Aldh1l1 Knockout Mice.

Genetic variants in ALDH1L1 and GLDC influence serine to glycine ratio in Hispanic children.

Structure of putative tumor suppressor ALDH1L1

2021

Knockout of Putative Tumor Suppressor Aldh1l1 in Mice Reprograms Metabolism to Accelerate Growth of Tumors in a Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) Model of Liver Carcinogenesis.

Metabolic Response of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer to Folate Restriction.

Is ALDH1L1 Elevated in Lung Cancer?

2020
Aldh1l2 knockout mouse metabolomics links the loss of the mitochondrial folate enzyme to deregulation of a lipid metabolism observed in rare human disorder.

Effects of folic acid withdrawal on transcriptomic profiles in murine triple-negative breast cancer cell lines.

Folate pathways mediating the effects of ethanol in tumorigenesis.

2019

The Role of Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Function of Candidate Tumor Suppressor ALDH1L1.

Cytosolic 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase regulates glycine metabolism in mouse liver.

Deleterious mutations in ALDH1L2 suggest a novel cause for neuro-ichthyotic syndrome.

Loss of ALDH1L1 folate enzyme confers a selective metabolic advantage for tumor progression.

2018
Metabolic Phenotype of Wild-Type and As3mt-Knockout C57BL/6J Mice Exposed to Inorganic Arsenic: The Role of Dietary Fat and Folate Intake.

C16-ceramide is a natural regulatory ligand of p53 in cellular stress response.

CHIP E3 ligase mediates proteasomal degradation of the proliferation regulatory protein ALDH1L1 during the transition of NIH3T3 fibroblasts from G0/G1 to S-phase.

2017
Modeling of interactions between functional domains of ALDH1L1.

Metabolic Reprogramming by Folate Restriction Leads to a Less Aggressive Cancer Phenotype.

2016
CerS6 Is a Novel Transcriptional Target of p53 Protein Activated by Non-genotoxic Stress.

Ceramide Synthase 6 Is a Novel Target of Methotrexate Mediating Its Antiproliferative Effect in a p53-Dependent Manner.