Fernanda G. Kugeratski, Ph.D.
Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Instructor, Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Instructor, Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2017 | University of Glasgow and CRUK Scotland Institute/Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow, GB, Cancer Sciences, Ph.D |
| 2012 | Carlos Chagas Institute FIOCRUZ, Curitiba, PR, BR, Biosciences and Biotechnology, Masters |
| 2011 | Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Curitiba, PR, BR, Biotechnology, Specialization |
| 2009 | Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Curitiba, PR, BR, Biological Sciences, Undergraduate |
Postgraduate Training
| 2022-2024 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2017-2022 | Odyssey Fellow, Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
Experience & Service
Intramural Institutional Committee Activities
Committee member, Experimental Therapeutics Publication Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Postdoc Representative, Research Policy Council, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - 2024
Honors & Awards
| 2023 | Intersect Postdoctoral Fellowship, The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) |
| 2019 | Odyssey Postdoctoral Fellowship, Odyssey Program, Supported by Theodore N. Law for Scientific Achievement at MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2017 | Travel grant to attend the 2017 HUPO meeting held in Dublin, Ireland, British Society of Proteome Research (BSPR) |
| 2017 | Travel grant to attend the 2017 Hypoxia and Metabolism Keystone Meeting held in Whistler, Canada, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences (MVLS) from University of Glasgow |
| 2017 | PhD Poster Competition Winner, Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) |
| 2016 | Travel grant to attend the 2016 BSPR meeting held in Glasgow, UK, British Society of Proteome Research (BSPR) |
| 2013 | Fully funded Scholarship to study PhD in Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK |
| 2010 | Fully funded Scholarship to study M.Sc. in Biosciences and Biotechnology, CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education) |
| 2010 | Walter Coli Prize for oral presentation given in the XXVI Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society of Protozoology, Brazilian Society of Protozoology |
| 2009 | Marcelino Champagnat Prize award to Valedictorian of 2009 Biological Sciences class, PUCPR |
| 2008 | Scientific Initiation Grant, PIBIC/CNPq/PUCPR |
| 2006 | Scholarship to study Undergraduate in Biological Sciences, Brazilian Government program PROUNI |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2024. Hypoxia reshapes the proteome of breast cancer-associated fibroblasts with implications for immune regulation. Poster. James P. Allison Institute 2nd Annual Symposium. Immunotherapy in space and time: The tumor environment. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2019. Exploiting engineered exosomes to engage anti-tumor immune responses. Poster. 9th Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium (APSS). Houston, Texas, US.
- 2018. Global analysis of the proteomic content of exosomes unravels biomarker candidates for cancer detection. Poster. 8th Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium (APSS). Houston, Texas, US.
International Presentations
- 2021. Quantitative proteomics identifies the core proteome of exosomes with syntenin-1 as the highest abundant protein and a putative universal biomarker. Invited. American Association of Extracellular Vesicles (AAEV) Inaugural Symposium, US.
- 2017. Novel hypoxia-driven pro-angiogenic mechanisms unveiled by secretomic analysis of mammary CAFs. Conference. 16th Human Proteome Organization World Congress. Dublin, IE.
- 2017. Molecular portrait of hypoxia-induced mammary CAF secretome unveils novel pro-angiogenic factors. Poster. Keystone Symposia. Adaptations to Hypoxia in Physiology and Disease. Whistler, CA.
- 2016. SILAC-based secretomics of hypoxic cancer-associated fibroblasts unveils pro-angiogenic factors. Conference. Proteomic Approaches to Health and Disease. Glasgow, GB.
- 2016. Hypoxic cancer-associated fibroblasts secrete regulators of angiogenesis: novel potential players revealed by MS. Poster. AACR meeting on The Function of Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer Progression. San Diego, US.
- 2015. The role of VAMP3 in sprouting angiogenesis. Poster. Beatson International Cancer Conference: Control of cell polarity and movement in cancer. Glasgow, GB.
- 2014. The role of SNAREs in sprouting angiogenesis. Poster. 8th PhD Student International Cancer Conference. Heidelberg, DE.
- 2012. Quantitative Analysis of Trypanosoma brucei Proteome and Phosphoproteome after Perturbation of MAP2K proteins. Poster. XXVIII Annual Meeting of the Brazilian n Society of Protozoology. Caxambu, BR.
- 2010. A Platform for Trypanosoma cruzi reverse genetics: A Step Closer for High-throughput Gene Characterization. Conference. XXVI Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society of Protozoology. Foz do Iguacu, BR.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2025 - 2027 |
| Title: | Defining the role of inflammatory CAFs in the breast tumor microenvironment |
| Funding Source: | American Association for Cancer Research and Breast Cancer Research Foundation |
| Role: | PI |
| Date: | 2023 - 2024 |
| Title: | Pinpointing the role of CCR7+ dendritic cells in melanoma |
| Funding Source: | American Association of Immunologists |
| Role: | PI |
| Date: | 2019 - 2022 |
| Title: | Exploiting exosomal OX40L to engage antitumor immune responses |
| Funding Source: | Odyssey Postdoctoral Fellowship and Theodore N Law for Scientific Achievement |
| Role: | PI |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Turner N, Keam S, Abdel-Wahab N, Colunga-Minutti J, Trejo CA, Kugeratski FG, Di Pilato M, Sevillano Gutierrez JM, Haymaker C, Shalapour S, Diab A, Nurieva R. B cell-guided inflammatory cascade perpetuates ICI-mediated colitis. Cell Rep, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 42721039.
- Ferrarini MG, Marchi M, Moggio EL, Brum H, Kugeratski FG, Batista M, Oliveira Ribeiro CA, Ávila AR. Environmentally relevant levels of BDE-209 induces proteomic and phosphoproteomic reprogramming in murine melanoma cells. Chemosphere, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 41719745.
- Boeker V, Wilke L, Mansourkiaei A, Le VMH, Church KA, Czigany Z, Kong B, Kugeratski FG, Kleeff J, Weitz J, Kahlert C. The influence of clinical risk factors on the classification of human cancer-associated fibroblasts in PDAC and pancreatitis patients. BJC Rep 3(1):44, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40523922.
- Luo X, Kugeratski FG, Dowlatshahi DP, Sugimoto H, Arian KA, Fan Y, Huang L, Wills D, Lilla S, Hodge K, Zanivan SR, LeBleu VS, McAndrews KM, Kalluri R. Engineered Immunomodulatory Extracellular Vesicles from Epithelial Cells with the Capacity for Stimulation of Innate and Adaptive Immunity in Cancer and Autoimmunity. ACS Nano 19(5):5193-5216, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39869047.
- Li B, Kugeratski FG, Kalluri R. A novel machine learning algorithm selects proteome signature to specifically identify cancer exosomes. Elife, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38529947.
- Kugeratski FG, LeBleu VS, Dowlatshahi DP, Sugimoto H, Arian KA, Fan Y, Huang L, Wells D, Lilla S, Hodge K, Zanivan S, McAndrews KM, Kalluri R. Engineered immunomodulatory extracellular vesicles derived from epithelial cells acquire capacity for positive and negative T cell co-stimulation in cancer and autoimmunity. bioRxiv, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37961535.
- Román-Fernández A, Mansour MA, Kugeratski FG, Anand J, Sandilands E, Galbraith L, Rakovic K, Freckmann EC, Cumming EM, Park J, Nikolatou K, Lilla S, Shaw R, Strachan D, Mason S, Patel R, McGarry L, Katoch A, Campbell KJ, Nixon C, Miller CJ, Leung HY, Quesne JL, Norman JC, Zanivan S, Blyth K, Bryant DM. Spatial regulation of the glycocalyx component podocalyxin is a switch for prometastatic function. Science Advances 9(5), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36735782.
- McAndrews K M, Xiao F, Chronopoulos A, LeBleu V S, Kugeratski FG, Kalluri R. Exosome-mediated delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 for targeting of oncogenic KrasG12D in pancreatic cancer. Life Sci Alliance, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34282051.
- Kugeratski FG, Hodge K, Lilla S, McAndrews KM, Zhou X, Hwang RF, Zanivan S, Kalluri R. Quantitative proteomics identifies the core proteome of exosomes with syntenin-1 as the highest abundant protein and a putative universal biomarker. Nat Cell Biol, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34108659.
- Helmink BA, Reddy SM, Gao J, Zhang S, Basar R, Thakur R, Yizhak K, Sade-Feldman M, Blando J, Han G, Gopalakrishnan V, Xi Y, Zhao H, Amaria RN, Tawbi HA, Cogdill AP, Liu W, LeBleu VS, Kugeratski FG, Patel S, Davies MA, Hwu P, Lee JE, Gershenwald JE, Lucci A, Arora R, Woodman S, Keung E Z, Gaudreau PO, Reuben A, Spencer CN, Burton EZ, Haydu LE, Lazar A Z, Zapassodi R, Hudgens CW, Ledesma DA, Ong S, Bailey M, Warren S, Rao D, Krijgsman O, Rozeman EA, Peeper D, Blank CU, Schumacher TN, Butterfield LH, Zelazowska MA, McBride KM, Kalluri R, Allison J, Petitprez F, Fridman WH, Sautès-Fridman C, Hacohen N, Rezvani K, Sharma P, Tetzlaff MT, Wang L, Wargo JA. B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures promote immunotherapy response. Nature, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31942075.
- Kugeratski FG, Atkinson SJ, Neilson LJ, Lilla S, Knight JRP, Serneels J, Juin A, Ismail S, Bryant DM, Markert EK, Machesky LM, Mazzone M, Sansom OJ, Zanivan S. Hypoxic cancer-associated fibroblasts increase NCBP2-AS2/HIAR to promote endothelial sprouting through enhanced VEGF signaling. Sci Signal, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30723174.
- Kugeratski FG, Batista M, Paula Lima CVD, Neilson LJ, da Cunha ES, de Godoy LM, Zanivan S, Krieger MA, Marchini FK. Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase 5 Regulates Proliferation and Biosynthetic Processes in Procyclic Forms of Trypanosoma brucei. J Proteome Res, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29043805.
- Hernandez-Fernaud JR, Ruengeler E, Casazza A, Neilson LJ, Pulleine E, Santi A, Ismail S, Lilla S, Dhayade S, MacPherson IR, McNeish I, Ennis D, Ali H, Kugeratski FG, Khamici HA, den Biggelaar MV, den Berghe PVEV, Cloix C, McDonald L, Millan D, Hoyle A, Kuchnio A, Carmeliet P, Valenzuela SM, Blyth K, Yin H, Mazzone M, Norman JC, Zanivan S. Secreted CLIC3 drives cancer progression through its glutathione-dependent oxidoreductase activity. Nat Commun, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28198360.
- Batista M, Kugeratski FG, Lima CVP, Probst CM, Kessler RL, de Godoy LM, Krieger MA, Marchini FK. The MAP kinase MAPKLK1 is essential to Trypanosoma brucei proliferation and regulates proteins involved in mRNA metabolism. J Proteomics, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28039027.
- Kugeratski FG, Batista M, Inoue AH, Ramos BD, Krieger MA, Marchini FK. pTcGW plasmid vectors 1.1 version: a versatile tool for Trypanosoma cruzi gene characterisation. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26200713.
- Lima CVP, Batista M, Kugeratski FG, Vincent IM, Soares MJ, Probst CM, Krieger MA, Marchini FK. LM14 defined medium enables continuous growth of Trypanosoma cruzi. BMC Microbiol, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25213265.
Review Articles
- Sobhani N, D'Angelo A, Kugeratski FG, Nguyen T, Morris RM, Roudi R, Kia N, Pianta L, Morello R, Winter S, Generali D, Membrino A. Immune biomarkers for head and neck cancer. Cancer Immunol Immunother 75(1):6, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 41410866.
- Sobhani N, Kugeratski FG, Venturini S, Roudi R, Nguyen T, D'Angelo A, Generali D. AI-Based Cancer Models in Oncology: From Diagnosis to ADC Drug Prediction. Cancers (Basel) 17(21), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 41228213.
- Kugeratski FG, Kay EJ, Zanivan SR. Cancer-associated fibroblasts as mediators of tissue microenvironment remodeling in cancer. Curr Opin Cell Biol 96, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40663954.
- Keam S, Turner N, Kugeratski FG, Rico R, Colunga-Minutti J, Poojary R, Alekseev S, Patel AB, Li YJ, Sheshadri A, Hamidi S, Iyer PC, Palaskas NL, and YW, Nurieva R. Toxicity in the era of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Frontiers in immunology 15, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39247203.
- Kugeratski FG, Santi A, Zanivan S. Extracellular vesicles as central regulators of blood vessel function in cancer. Science Signaling 15(753), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36166511.
- Kugeratski FG, McAndrews KM, Kalluri R. Multifunctional Applications of Engineered Extracellular Vesicles in the Treatment of Cancer. Endocrinology, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33411885.
- Kugeratski FG, Kalluri R. Exosomes as mediators of immune regulation and immunotherapy in cancer. FEBS J, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32910536.
- Santi A, Kugeratski FG, Zanivan S. Cancer Associated Fibroblasts: The Architects of Stroma Remodeling. Proteomics, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29280568.
Book Chapters
- Kugeratski FG, Kalluri R. Exploiting Exosomes for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment. In: Circulating Tumor Cells: Advances in Liquid Biopsy Technologies. Springer Nature, 2023.
- Grande Kugeratski, F, Kalluri, R. Exploiting Exosomes for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment, 43-59, 2023.
- Batista M, Amorim JC, Lucena ACR, Kugeratski FG, Paula Lima CVD, Marchini FK. Genome-Wide Proteomics and Phosphoproteomics Analysis of Trypanosoma cruzi During Differentiation. In: Trypanosomatids. Springer, 2020.
- Marchini FK, de Godoy LMF, Batista M, Kugeratski FG, Krieger MA. Towards the phosphoproteome of trypanosomatids. In: Proteins and Proteomics of Leishmania and Trypanosoma. Springer, 2013.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified September 15, 2026