Roles
Professor
Associate Director of Translational Research, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
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Biography
Dr. Figueroa received her MD from Universidad del Salvador, School of Medicine in Buenos Aires, and a Degree in Hematology from University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She completed her postdoctoral training in the field of epigenetics of myeloid malignancies at Weill Cornell Medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Ari Melnick. Dr. Figueroa’s research seeks to understand the role of epigenetic modifications in transcriptional regulation during normal and malignant hematopoiesis.
In 2011 Dr. Figueroa started her independent career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, where she continued her work in the field of epigenetic regulation of normal and malignant hematopoiesis. In September 2016 she was recruited as Associate Professor to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She also serves as the Co-Leader Cancer Epigenetics Research Program and Assistant Director for Translational Research for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Throughout her career, Dr. Figueroa has been the recipient of scholar awards from the SASS Foundation for Cancer Research, the American Society of Hematology, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Dr. Figueroa’s work has demonstrated the power of epigenetics in uncovering novel biology of myeloid malignancies. Her lab has harnessed this for the discovery of previously unrecognized subtypes and the development of epigenetic biomarkers predictive of response to epigenetic therapies. Finally, her lab has also demonstrated that normal aging is accompanied by epigenetic reprogramming of healthy hematopoietic stem and progenitors cells that may predispose them to age-related malignancies. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
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Honors & Awards
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Research Interests
The Figueroa lab studies the role of epigenetic modifications in transcriptional regulation during normal and malignant hemopoiesis. Their focus is mainly on how changes in normal DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation patterns occur during malignant transformation and how these changes may contribute to the leukemogenic process. They use a combination of computational approaches based on genome-wide next-generation sequencing data as well as in vitro and in vivo modeling to determine the consequences of the epigenetic lesions that they have identified. -
Publications
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