Arlet Maria Acanda De La Rocha
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Office: AHC4
Email: aacandad@fiu.edu
Biography
Dr. Arlet Acanda de la Rocha, PhD, is a research assistant professor at the FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work. She received her PhD in Biomedical Research from the University of Navarra, Spain, studying the role of SOX2 and its transcriptional networks in glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs). Her work identified a novel onco-miR controlled by SOX2, miR-425-5p, which regulates GSC survival, neurosphere formation, cell cycle progression, and survival using orthotopic glioblastoma mouse models.
Dr. Acanda joined Dr. Azzam’s lab in 2019 as a postdoctoral associate focused on studying the role that translocator protein 18kDa (TSPO) plays in glioblastoma. She uses a multidisciplinary approach to understand the functional role of TSPO, a validated biomarker of neuroinflammation, in human-derived GSCs. Her ultimate goal is to find a therapeutic window to exploit GSCs’ vulnerabilities for better glioblastoma treatment strategies.