Dr. DeFrances is the Director of the Pathology Residency and Fellowship Program.
Clinical Expertise
Dr. DeFrances' clinical responsibilities are in the Division of Molecular and Genomic Pathology where she is involved with day-to-day review of patient material and teaching. Dr. DeFrances is also involved in medical student and graduate student education; she is the Co-Director of the graduate course, "Basics of Personalized Medicine."
Dr. DeFrances studies HGF-MET-PI3K signaling in liver development, growth, regeneration and cancer. She has identified a novel regulator of the catalytic subunit of PI3K (p110) called PI3K interacting protein 1 (PIK3IP1). PIK3IP1 is a transmembrane protein that shares structural features with p85, the regulatory subunit of PI3K. She and her collaborators are unraveling the role of this signaling system in cancer and immunobiology.
View Dr. DeFrances' publications on PubMed
- Ma, J, Tan, X, Kwon, Y, Delgado, ER, Zarnegar, A, DeFrances, MC, Duncan, AW, and Zarnegar, R. A Novel Humanized Model of NASH and Its Treatment With META4, A Potent Agonist of MET. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022;13(2):565-582. PMID: 34756982
- Gibson, BA, McKinnon, E, Bentley, RC, Mohlman, J, Witt, BL, Yang, EJ, Geisler, D, and DeFrances, M. Communicating Certainty in Pathology Reports: Interpretation Differences Among Staff Pathologists, Clinicians, and Residents in a Multicenter Study. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2021;146(7):886-893. PMID: 34669920
- Xing J, Khader SN, Ohori NP, DeFrances M, Cuda J, and Monaco SE. Comparison of quantitative internal and external measures of performance for trainees in cytopathology fellowships. J Am Soc Cytopathol. 2021;10(5):495-503. PMID: 34099427