Debora Barbosa Vendramini Costa, Ph.D.
Address
2799 W Grand Blvd. Detroit, MI 48202Office address
Henry Ford Health, E&R Building, Office 7088, Lab: Room 7023
Department
Oncology
Laboratory web site
Debora Barbosa Vendramini Costa, PhD | Henry Ford Health - Detroit, MI
Debora Barbosa Vendramini Costa | College of Natural Science | Michigan State University
Research interests
• Tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer
• Fibroblast biology
• Mechanisms of immunosuppression in pancreatic cancer
• Utilizing tumor interstitial fluid for early detection of pancreatic cancer
Research description
The Vendramini-Francescone lab is co-led by husband-and-wife duo Dr. Debora Barbosa Vendramini-Costa and Dr. Ralph Francescone. The lab’s main research focus is on normalizing the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer to improve outcomes for one of the deadliest cancers. Pancreatic cancer has a unique tumor microenvironment, with over half of the tumor cellular mass being stromal, non-tumor cells, such as immune cells and fibroblasts. This microenvironment is highly fibrotic (due to stromal expansion known as desmoplasia) and immunosuppressive, representing a challenge for chemotherapies and immunotherapies.
Our lab is actively exploring the answers to these key questions: Why does desmoplasia occur to such a degree in pancreatic cancer? What are the initiating events? How is the stroma hijacked to support tumor progression? Can we normalize the stroma to improve therapeutic responses? Can we develop tools to diagnose this disease before it metastasizes? The Vendramini-Francescone lab uses a wide variety of techniques and approaches to address these questions, including advanced mouse models of pancreatic cancer, gain and loss of function experiments utilizing state-of-the-art molecular biology techniques (CRISPR based methods), and translational approaches such as characterizing the tumor interstitial fluid isolated directly from patient surgical samples. Overall, the lab hopes to make meaningful contributions to the pancreatic cancer research field and push the needle forward to improve patients’ lives.
PubMed - my bibliography
Education/training
B.S. Biological Sciences, 2003-2007, Sao Paulo State University, Campus Botucatu, Brazil.
Ph.D. Cellular and Structural Biology, 2008-2012, University of Campinas, Brazil.
Visiting Scientist, 2010-2011, University of Seville, Spain.
Post-Doctoral Fellow, 2012-2015, Organic Chemistry, University of Campinas, Brazil.
Visiting Scientist, 2014-2015, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA.
Post-Doctoral Fellow, 2016-2017, Tumor Immunology, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA.
Post-Doctoral Fellow, 2017-2021, Cancer Biology and Signaling, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA.
Research Assistant Professor, 2021-2023, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA.