Camila Lopes-Ramos

My research involves developing and applying genomics and systems biology methods to understand the gene regulatory processes in males and females that contribute to disease development and therapeutic response, with a focus on lung diseases. I have a strong background in molecular biology, genomics, computational and systems biology. During my PhD, I was trained in both experimental biology and bioinformatics to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with treatment response in rectal cancer, and to find molecular biomarkers predictive of treatment efficacy. During my postdoctoral fellowship, I substantially improved my knowledge of computational and systems biology, and network medicine. I worked with omic data, and the application of network methods to a wide range of problems, including the study of regulatory differences between cell lines and their tissues of origin, tissue-specific gene regulation, the association of PD1 pathway regulation with survival in glioblastoma, and the study of sex differences in healthy tissues and in colon cancer. My collection of network models (which include healthy and disease tissues) are publicly available and are a valuable resource for future research on network disruptions that lead to diseases. I have been funded by the American Lung Association to explore sex differences in lung cancer survival outcomes and uncover therapeutic targets via sex-specific gene regulatory networks. My ongoing K01 grant focus on studying the molecular mechanisms driving sex differences in COPD onset and heterogeneity using integrative multi-omic data analysis and network-based approaches. My academic training and research experience in multiple disciplines, including molecular, computational and systems biology, make me well suited to mentor and contribute to research projects using multi-omics and network approaches to better understand sex-based differences in lung diseases and identify more tailored and effective treatment strategies.