Sandra Cascio, PhD

Dr. Sandra Cascio is a Research Assistant Professor at the Magee-Womens Research Institute and the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of OBGYN and Reproductive Sciences. She has received several prestigious national and international awards including the Ri.MED Foundation Grant, AIRC Fellowship, AACR-Scholar-in-Training Award and the Competitive Medical Research Fund Grant. Dr. Cascio obtained her PhD in Molecular Oncology from the University of Palermo (Italy) performing her thesis at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA) as Visiting Scholar. She studied the link between obesity and cancer, elucidating novel signaling pathways of leptin in breast and colon adenocarcinoma. During her post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Olivera Finn at the University of Pittsburgh she acquired expertise in tumor immunology developing a project focused on the crosstalk between tumor-associated macrophages and tumor epithelial cells. In 2019, Dr. Cascio joined Dr. Buckanovich’ group to study the cellular and molecular networks in the ovarian tumor microenvironment. Her research interests are centered on the molecular mechanisms that drive proliferation and differentiation of immunosuppressive myeloid cells and develop new strategies that will improve the efficacy of current immune checkpoint therapies in ovarian cancer.