ABOUT

Debora (Deb) Barbosa Vendramini Costa is an Assistant Professor at Henry Ford Health in Detroit and the Department of Physiology in the College of Human Medicine. Deb received her Ph.D. in structural and cellular biology from the University of Campinas, Brazil, and did her postdoctoral training in Tumor Immunology at The Wistar Institute and Cancer Biology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She is the co-leader of the Vendramini-Francescone Lab at Henry Ford Health, together with her husband Ralph Francescone, and their lab is dedicated to investigating the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer.

RESEARCH

The pancreatic cancer tumor microenvironment is highlighted by a fibrotic stroma, characterized by activation and expansion of fibroblasts, large deposition of extracellular matrix, and secreted factors. This highly immunosuppressive stroma promotes tumorigenesis by shielding tumor cells from therapies, inactivating the anti-tumor immune system, and providing nutrients to cancer cells. Using a unique in vitro culturing system, primary cells, tissue, and fluids derived from healthy donors and patients, animal models, and translational approaches, our lab is specifically interested in 1) understanding how this fibrotic, immunosuppressive microenvironment is created and evolves, and 2) uncovering new biomarkers for early detection of this dismal disease. These integrated in vitro, in vivo, and translational approaches allow the team to probe basic biology questions in pancreatic cancer, with the hope of translating these novel findings to the clinic in the future.