Kivanç Birsoy, PhD, Head of Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics, has been selected as a National Finalist for the 2023 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists in Life Sciences. He is receiving the honor for his ground-breaking research highlighting key nutrients that cancer cells need to survive—but healthy cells can live without—as well as shedding light on debilitating mitochondrial diseases and rare genetic disorders. Some of Dr. Birsoy’s major breakthroughs include discovering that aspartate is a vital nutrient keeping a litany of cancer cells sated and determining that a rare lymphoma subsists on a diet of cholesterol. Most recently, he has revealed links between cellular metabolism and devastating mitochondrial diseases and rare genetic disorders. His work has opened up numerus possibilities for novel treatments.