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Biography
In 2000, I graduated in Biological Sciences and in 2004 I got my PhD in Molecular Biotechnology, both at University of Pisa, Italy. In 2006, I moved to the US, where I became a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Pier Paolo Pandolfi, first at MSKCC in New York and then at BIDMC-HMS in Boston. In 2009, I started a second post-doc in the lab of Prof. Iman Osman at NYU. In 2012, I was appointed as Principal Investigator of the Oncogenomics Unit of ITT (now ISPRO) and in 2016 I became Staff Scientist-Ricercatore at the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the National Research Council in Pisa, Italy, where my lab is located. In 2021, I became Senior Staff Scientist-Primo Ricercatore.
Throughout my scientific career, my research interests have mostly revolved around non-coding RNAs (microRNAs, pseudogenes, ceRNAs) in cancer. Currently, we study the coding and non-coding regulatory networks that revolve around BRAFV600E isoforms in melanoma, with the goal to better understand how this oncogene works, to hamper tolerance mechanisms, and to potentiate the efficacy of BRAF inhibitors. Specifically, we are interested in the regulation of isoform expression; the kinase-(in)dependent and coding-(in)dependent functions of each isoform, as well as its modulators, interactors and effectors. To do so, we take advantage of a wide range of techniques: in silico (omics approaches), in vitro (yeast, melanoma cell lines), in vivo (melanoma modeling in zebrafish and in the mouse), and ex vivo (melanoma specimens).
We are also developing new strategies for selective drug delivery, taking advantage of attenuated Listeria monocytogenes.
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Funding (6)
IG 25694
MFAG 17095
GR-2011-02348535
Works (50 of 79)
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