Debora Sobreira, PhD

Obesity represents a risk factor for many chronic disease, most notably, diabetes type 2, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease, including cancer. Ectopic lipid accumulation may cause through multiple pathways metabolic, inflammatory, and immunologic alterations affecting DNA repair, cell mutation rate, gene function as well as epigenetic changes allowing malignant transformation and progression. The Sobreira Laboratory is also interested in developing strategies to elucidate the epigenetic link between obesity, adiposopathy and cancer risk.