Gary Patti

Gary Patti is a Professor of Chemistry and of Genetics and Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, with appointments in the Department of Chemistry, Department of Genetics, and Department of Medicine (School of Medicine). He serves as Senior Director of the Center for Metabolomics and Isotope Tracing, Director of the Clinical Research Core in Medicine, and Director of Faculty Affairs in Chemistry.

His research focuses on the intersection of cancer biology, metabolomics, and computational biology. The Patti laboratory investigates how cancer cells rewire metabolism to support proliferation, how tumors manipulate host metabolism across tissues, and develops cutting-edge tools in isotope tracing, mass spectrometry imaging, and metabolomics data analysis. His work spans cancer metabolism, single-cell metabolomics, spatial omics, and bioinformatics tool development.

The recent publications highlight a strong trend in quantitative metabolic imaging, isotope-based flux analysis, and machine learning for metabolomics. His lab integrates stable isotope tracing with LC/MS, MALDI/DESI imaging, and spatial transcriptomics to resolve metabolic dynamics at the cellular and tissue level. A major focus is overcoming data annotation bottlenecks through tools like DecoID and PeakDetective.

Selected scientific awards include:

• Alfred P. Sloan Award (2014)
• Pew Biomedical Scholars Award (2015)
• Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2015)
• Mallinckrodt Scholar Award (2016)
• Inaugural NIEHS Award for Visionary Research (2017)
• Blavatnik National Finalist (2020)
• ACS Midwest Award (2023)

Professor Patti advises a multidisciplinary research team and leads multiple institutional cores. His grants support technology development in metabolomics, cancer metabolism studies using zebrafish and mouse models, and software tools for omics data integration. He collaborates with instrument manufacturers to improve data acquisition strategies and promotes inclusive research practices.

He leads the Center for Metabolomics and Isotope Tracing and the Clinical Research Core in Medicine, fostering collaboration across chemistry, genetics, and medicine. His lab is at the forefront of advancing single-cell metabolomics and in vivo metabolic imaging.