Fugger lab

Nucleotide Metabolism & Genome Integrity Lab

Our lab studies non-canonical nucleotides, focusing on their effects on genome stability, their roles in cancer and viral pathology, and their potential to reveal new therapeutic opportunities.

Non-canonical nucleotides are powerful bioactive molecules found in our cells, diet, and microbiome. While they play essential roles in physiology, they can also have harmful effects on human health when they accumulate or are mismanaged.

Our research investigates how pathogenic nucleotides undermine genome maintenance and contribute to disease, including cancer and neurological disorders. We are particularly interested in how cells preserve nucleotide quality control, and how this process is disrupted by endogenous metabolism, diet, and the microbiota. A major focus of the lab is understanding how oncogenic viruses reshape nucleotide pools in ways that promote genome instability, cytotoxicity, and malignant transformation.

To address these questions, we combine cellular model systems, genetic screening, metabolomics, and structural and biochemical approaches. These tools allow us to identify pathological nucleotides, define the enzymatic pathways that prevent their incorporation into DNA and RNA, and dissect how their accumulation alters cellular fitness.

Within the collaborative environment of UCL and the Crick, the lab is building a new framework for studying nucleotide pool integrity as a central determinant of genome stability. Through this work, we aim to uncover disease mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapeutic opportunities arising from pathological nucleotide metabolism.