Denise Paula Muñoz

Translational cancer biologist with multidisciplinary expertise spanning cancer biology, DNA damage response, cellular senescence, epigenetics, and therapeutic resistance. My research bridges fundamental mechanisms and clinical applications, with a strong emphasis on identifying and validating novel therapeutic targets, and uncovering mechanisms of synthetic lethality and tumor-specific vulnerabilities. I bring a systems-level perspective to oncogenic signaling rewiring, chromatin dynamics, gene editing, and high-throughput functional screening—key tools for innovative target discovery. Driven by a mission to understand how cancer cells adapt to stress and therapy by reprogramming regulatory elements and kinase-driven signaling networks, I am particularly focused on therapy-induced signaling plasticity in resistant tumors. My trajectory is aligned with advancing mechanism-informed therapeutic strategies and directly contributing to drug discovery efforts through collaborative, interdisciplinary science.

• Grant Reviewer for the UCSF Resource Allocation Program
• Ad hoc referee for Trends in Parasitology, Aging Cell, Oncogene, DNA and Cell Biology, Frontiers in Oncology, Frontiers in Immunology, Precision Oncology, PLoS One, Medicinal Research Reviews.

• Suppression of NRAS-mutant melanoma growth with NRAS-targeting ASO treatment reveals therapeutically relevant kinase co-dependencies. Nat Comm Med. (2025). Accepted
• ONC201-Derived Tetrahydropyridopyrimidindiones as Powerful ClpP Protease Activators to Tackle Diffuse Midline Glioma., J Med Chem, 2025, PMID: 39973170
• Super-enhancer profiling reveals ThPOK/ZBTB7B, a CD4+ cell lineage commitment factor, as a master regulator that restricts breast cancer cells to a luminal non-migratory phenotype. bioRxiv, 09/21/24, doi:10.1101/2024.09.21.614267
• The therapeutically actionable long non-coding RNA 'T-RECS' is essential to cancer cells' survival in NRAS/MAPK-driven melanoma. Mol Cancer, 2024, PMID: 38383439
• A reversible SRC-relayed COX2 inflammatory program drives resistance to BRAF and EGFR inhibition in BRAF(V600E) colorectal tumors. Nat Cancer, 2023, PMID: 36759733
• Hyperphosphorylation of BCL-2 family proteins underlies functional resistance to venetoclax in lymphoid malignancies. J Clin Invest, 2023, PMID: 37751299
• Protein interaction landscape of breast cancer, Science, 2021, PMID: 34591612
• Efficacy of AAV9-mediated SGPL1 gene transfer in a mouse model of S1P lyase insufficiency syndrome. JCI Insight, 2021, PMID: 33755599
• Targetable mechanisms driving immunoevasion of persistent senescent cells link chemotherapy-resistant cancer to aging. JCI Insight, 2019, PMID: 31184599
• Selection-free genome editing of the sickle mutation in human adult hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Sci Transl Med, 2016, PMID: 27733558
• HSP90 inhibitors decrease AID levels and activity in mice and in human cells. Eur J Immunol, 2015, PMID: 25912253
• Activation-Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID) is necessary for the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in mammary epithelial cells. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci, 2013, PMID: 23882083
• An autonomous chromatin/DNA-PK mechanism for localized DNA damage signaling in mammalian cells. Nucleic Acids Res, 2012, PMID: 23325849
• DNA-SCARS: distinct nuclear structures that sustain damage-induced senescence growth arrest and inflammatory cytokine secretion. J Cell Sci, 2011, PMID: 21118958
• Persistent DNA damage signaling triggers senescence-associated inflammatory cytokine secretion. Nat Cell Biol, 2009, PMID: 19597488
• Senescence-associated secretory phenotypes reveal cell-nonautonomous functions of oncogenic RAS and the p53 tumor suppressor. PLoS Biol, 2008, PMID: 19053174

Supervised and mentored postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, research associates, and MDs across multiple projects in cancer biology. Provided strategic direction and day-to-day project oversight. Built and maintained productive collaborations with leading academic labs participating in multi-institutional efforts in translational cancer research. Fostered a collaborative and rigorous lab culture, supporting the professional development and scientific growth of junior scientists.