Edna (Eti) Cukierman, originally from Mexico City, is a distinguished researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Leading the Cukierman Laboratory, she focuses on understanding how desmoplasia, the dense mesenchymal microenvironment surrounding solid epithelial tumors, impacts human tumor progression. Utilizing a unique 3D culturing system, her team mimics the in vivo mesenchymal stroma to unravel desmoplasia's functional roles in tumorigenesis. They've pioneered Harmonic Output of Stromal Traits (HOST), a revolutionary tool for identifying and quantifying tumor microenvironment (TME) cells and their functional states. Through HOST-Factor, a numerical metric, they dissect the contributions of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and CAF-generated extracellular matrix (ECM) units to tumor behavior. Their research delves into the intricate interactions among TME cells and explores HOST-Factor's potential as a prognostic indicator for patient outcomes and drug efficacy prediction.

As Co-Leader of the Cancer Signaling and Microenvironment Program, Co-Director of the Marvin & Concetta Greenberg Pancreatic Cancer Institute, full Tenured Professor, and M&C Greenberg Chair in Pancreatic Cancer Research, Cukierman's work embodies a commitment to transformative cancer research and clinical impact. Recognized for her contributions, she was recently awarded the inaugural ACS Wilmott Family Professorship of Pancreatic Cancer aiming to empower the best minds to delve into the intricacies of pancreatic cancer biology, and was elected AACR’s TME Working Group Chair for 2024-2026.

https://www.foxchase.org/edna-cukierman