She received both B.S.ChE and M.S. degrees at the University of Florida. After completing her PhD in Cancer Biology at the University of South Florida, Gilkes was a Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Gregg Semenza, MD, PhD at Johns Hopkins. Later, she became a Research Assistant Professor in the Whiting School of Engineering, where she developed research in the lab of Denis Wirtz, PhD. Since August 2015, Daniele Gilkes has her own lab and her research has focused on the role of hypoxic microenvironments in regulating the extracellular matrix in breast cancer.