Rate My Professor Pilar Blancafort

Her research specializes in epigenetic reprogramming and genome engineering for precision therapies targeting refractory cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Blancafort's group engineers sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins such as zinc fingers, TALEs, and CRISPR/dCas9 platforms fused to epigenetic effectors to reactivate tumor suppressor genes and silence oncogenic transcription factors like SOX2. They develop targeted nanoparticle delivery systems for solid tumors and investigate novel oncogenes activating the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway. Key publications include "Synthetic Epigenetic Reprogramming of Mesenchymal to Epithelial States Using the CRISPR/dCas9 Platform in Triple Negative Breast Cancer" (Advanced Science, 2023), "Epigenetic reactivation of tumor suppressor genes with CRISPRa technologies as precision therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma" (Clinical Epigenetics, 2023), "Unpacking the Complexity of Epithelial Plasticity: From Master Regulator Transcription Factors to Non-Coding RNAs" (Cancers, 2023), and "Targeted silencing of the oncogenic transcription factor SOX2 in breast cancer" (Nucleic Acids Research, 2012). She has secured major grants from the NHMRC, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Cancer Council WA, ARC Future Fellowship, Cancer Council of Western Australia Research Fellowship, US Department of Defense Breast Cancer Program, and NCI/NIH awards. Her research, cited over 4,300 times, advances treatment strategies for metastatic women's cancers.