Claudia Capparelli, Ph.D.

Dr. Capparelli graduated from the University of Calabria in 2011. During the last period of her PhD, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Lisanti, at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University. During this time her research focused on breast cancer-associated fibroblast regulation of tumor autophagy. At the end of 2012 she joined Dr. Aplin’s lab at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University as post-doctoral fellow. During her post-doc her studies focused on mechanisms that drive adaptive resistance to MEK inhibitors in melanoma. In November 2022, she was appointed as Assistant Professor at Thomas Jefferson University. Her studies aim to identify and target pathway dependencies and vulnerabilities in tolerant persister cells in order to prevent metastasis and improve treatment options for melanoma patients. Additional research interests include: i) characterizing alterations that occur in the extracellular matrix during the establishment of drug tolerance and ii) investigate therapies that mediate changes within the tumor immune microenvironment as an approach to improve response to immunotherapies. Understanding alterations in the tumor microenvironment could ultimately lead to the identification of novel therapeutical approaches for the treatment of melanoma.  Overall, the overarching objective of her research is to understand the mechanisms underlying tumor heterogeneity and plasticity in melanoma initiation and progression. Additionally, her lab aims to determine how heterogeneity and plasticity contribute to tolerance to targeted and immune therapy in metastatic and in early-stage cutaneous melanoma with the ultimate goal ofidentifying novel therapeutic approaches to improve the treatment options for melanoma patients.