Aline de Conti

Dr. Aline de Conti received a graduate degree in Industrial Pharmacy from the Oswaldo Cruz College in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2005 and a Ph.D. degree in Food Sciences from the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2009. During 2009-2012, Dr. de Conti conducted postdoctoral research on nutrition and cancer at University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, including six months as a Visiting Researcher at NCTR’s Division of Biochemical Toxicology. In 2012, Dr. de Conti joined NCTR as postdoctoral fellow and in 2015 she was converted to an FDA Staff Fellow.
Dr. de Conti has published more than 40 research articles and 2 book chapters and has served as a reviewer for more than 30 scientific articles. In 2018, she received the NCTR Scientific Achievement Award as Outstanding Junior Investigator and the NCTR Director’s Award for providing outstanding service to NCTR/FDA. She has been invited to be a member of a working group for International Agency for Cancer Research to evaluate carcinogenic risks to humans. She is the vice-president of the Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists, a Special Interest Group of the Society of Toxicology.
Dr. de Conti’s research interests are related to the identification of molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis, with a focus on the role of epigenetic alterations. Dr. de Conti has investigated the role of epigenetic alterations in liver carcinogenesis induced by several non-genotoxic and genotoxic carcinogens. The results of Dr. de Conti’s research demonstrate the importance of epigenetic alterations as contributing factors to carcinogenesis and indicate that epigenetic alterations may represent a class of biomarkers with a great potential for the identification of exposure status, damage response, and/or disease state, and may become an essential tool for hazard identification. Another major area of Dr. de Conti’s research has been investigating the genomic and epigenomic drivers of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and NAFLD-associated liver cancer. Currently, NAFLD is the most prevalent form of chronic liver disease in the United States and other countries worldwide, affecting approximately one-quarter of the world's population.  Using in vivo models of NAFLD-related hepatocarcinogenesis, Dr. de Conti demonstrated the significance of epigenetic abnormalities, including alterations in histone modifications, DNA methylation, and chromatin structure, in the development of NAFLD-related HCC.  In addition, Dr. de Conti is interested in the elucidation of chemopreventive bioactive food components against liver carcinogenesis, including farnesol, β-ionone, tributyrin, and folic acid, as well as, in the investigation of the mechanisms of action involved in the prevention of liver cancer.