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Desire Casares Marfil, PhD

  • Postdoctoral Associate

Desire Casares-Marfil is a postdoctoral fellow at Dr. Amr H Sawalha's group, in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. She completed her Bachelor's Degree in Biology (2013-2017) and Master's Degree in Genetics and Evolution (2017-2018) at the University of Granada, Spain. She was awarded with PhD degree in Biomedical Science with Cum laude qualification in 2022 at the University of Granada under the tutelage of Prof. Martín and Dr. Marialbert Acosta Herrera. Her PhD was focused on the study of the genetic component of complex diseases by using different genomic and epigenomic approaches and bioinformatics tools. Currently, her work is focused on studying the genetic and epigenetic basis of immune-mediated diseases, and performing subsequent functional studies and data analysis to help better understand the etiology and pathogenesis of autoimmunity.

Education & Training

  • BS, University of Granada, 2017
  • MS. University of Granada, 2018
  • PhD, University of Granada CSIC, 2022
  • Postdoctoral Associate, University of Pittsburgh, Present

Selected Publications

Casares-Marfil D, Strauss M, Bosch-Nicolau P, Lo Presti MS, Molina I, Chevillard C, Cunha-Neto E, Sabino E, Ribeiro ALP, González CI, Martín J, Acosta-Herrera M. A Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Novel Susceptibility loci in Chronic Chagas Cardiomyopathy. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Aug 16;73(4):672-679. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab090. PMID: 33539531; PMCID: PMC8366831. IF: 11.8

Casares-Marfil D, Esencan D, Alibaz-Oner F, Çefle A, Yazıcı A, Duzgun N, Aşık MA, Özbek S, Cinar M, Alpsoy E, Bilge SY, Kasifoglu T, Saruhan-Direskeneli G, Direskeneli H, Sawalha AH. Clinical trait-specific genetic analysis in Behçet's disease identifies novel loci associated with ocular and neurological involvement. Clin Immunol. 2023 Aug;253:109657. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2023.109657. Epub 2023 Jun 2. PMID: 37271218; PMCID: PMC10529450. IF: 8.6

Regueiro C, Casares-Marfil D, Lundberg K, Knevel R, Acosta-Herrera M, Rodriguez-Rodriguez L, Lopez-Mejias R, Perez-Pampin E, Triguero-Martinez A, Nuño L, Ferraz-Amaro I, Rodriguez-Carrio J, Lopez-Pedrera R, Robustillo-Villarino M, Castañeda S, Remuzgo-Martinez S, Alperi M, Alegre-Sancho JJ, Balsa A, Gonzalez-Alvaro I, Mera A, Fernandez-Gutierrez B, Gonzalez-Gay MA, Trouw LA, Grönwall C, Padyukov L, Martin J, Gonzalez A. HLA-B*08 Identified as the Most Prominently Associated Major Histocompatibility Complex Locus for Anti-Carbamylated Protein Antibody-Positive/Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide-Negative Rheumatoid Arthritis. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 Jun;73(6):963-969. doi: 10.1002/art.41630. Epub 2021 Apr 23. PMID: 33381897. IF: 13.3

Casares-Marfil D, Guillen-Guio B, Lorenzo-Salazar JM, Rodríguez-Pérez H, Kerick M, Jaimes-Campos MA, Díaz ML, Estupiñán E, Echeverría LE, González CI, Martín J, Flores C, Acosta-Herrera M. Admixture mapping analysis reveals differential genetic ancestry associated with Chagas disease susceptibility in the Colombian population. Hum Mol Genet. 2021 Nov 30;30(24):2503-2512. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddab213. PMID: 34302177; PMCID: PMC8643504. IF: 3.5

Casares-Marfil D, Kerick M, Andrés-León E, Bosch-Nicolau P, Molina I; Chagas Genetics CYTED Network; Martin J, Acosta-Herrera M. GWAS loci associated with Chagas cardiomyopathy influences DNA methylation levels. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021 Oct 29;15(10):e0009874. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009874. PMID: 34714828; PMCID: PMC8580254. IF: 4.78

Strauss M, Casares-Marfil D, Alcaraz A, Palma-Vega M, Bosch-Nicolau P, Lo Presti MS, Molina I, González CI, Martín J, Acosta-Herrera M; Chagas Genetics CYTED Network. Lack of Association of IL6 polymorphism with the susceptibility to Chagas disease in Latin American populations. Acta Trop. 2020 Oct;210:105546. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105546. Epub 2020 May 31. PMID: 32492396. IF: 2.7

Strauss M, Palma-Vega M, Casares-Marfil D, Bosch-Nicolau P, Lo Presti MS, Molina I, González CI; Chagas Genetics CYTED Network; Martín J, Acosta-Herrera M. Genetic polymorphisms of IL17A associated with Chagas disease: results from a meta-analysis in Latin American populations. Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 19;10(1):5015. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61965-5. PMID: 32193469; PMCID: PMC7081280. IF: 4.99

Strauss M, Acosta-Herrera M, Alcaraz A, Casares-Marfil D, Bosch-Nicolau P, Lo Presti MS, Molina I, González CI; Chagas Genetics CYTED Network; Martín J. Association of IL18 genetic polymorphisms with Chagas disease in Latin American populations. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019 Nov 21;13(11):e0007859. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007859. PMID: 31751351; PMCID: PMC6894881. IF: 4.78

My ORCID Profile

Academic and Research Interests

  • Genomics
  • Epigenomics
  • Functional genomics
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Takayasu's arteritis
  • Antiphospholipid syndrome
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus