Anavaleria Castro

I am a physician-scientist with a specialization in Endocrinology and hold a position as a Scientist at the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center (HBTC) within the Department of Neurosurgery (Henry Ford Health). With over 25 years of experience in medical practice, teaching and mentoring under- and graduate students at prestigious universities in Brazil, my academic training and research experience spans various fields including molecular biology, oncology, genetics, human physiology and diseases and bioinformatics. In oncology research, I had been involved in preclinical studies of anti-cancer drug development for solid tumors and in investigating pituitary tumorigenesis mechanisms. More recently, my team and I have been working on projects to understand the biological and clinical significance of DNA methylation in CNS tumors, including gliomas, pituitary tumors, meningiomas and others, and exploring the use of liquid biopsy to detect epigenetic markers in patients with these tumors. My primary research objective is to identify noninvasive diagnostic and prognostic markers that can personalize the management and treatment of patients with CNS tumors. With the resources and support of the HBTC and the Omics Laboratory, we have access to CNS tumor specimens, can perform molecular extraction, and conduct the data analysis necessary to carry out valuable research proposals.