EDUCATION
- Ph.D. in Biochemistry supported by Marie Sklodowska-Curie [ITN] Early Stage Researcher Fellowship – “TRANSMIT- TRANSlating the role of Mitochondria in Tumorigenesis”.
October 1st, 2017 – January 19th, 2022
Thesis: “Targeting mitochondrial glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and mitochondrial complex III in PC-3 prostate cancer cells”.
Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany – Institute of Veterinary Physiology and
Biochemistry.
Technical skills: Cell cultures at normoxic and hypoxic conditions, isoelectric focusing, gel permeation chromatography, enzymes activities assays, measurement of glycolytic and glutaminolytic conversion rates in cell cultivation supernatants, intracellular and extracellular H2O2 production assays, oxygen consumption assay, SDS-PAGE and Western Blotting, metabolites extraction from cells and media for LC-MS analysis.
- Master’s Degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology (110/110 cum laude)
November 3rd, 2014 – March 8th, 2017
Thesis: “Organization of respiratory chain complexes and supercomplexes in cells with defective
complex III”.
Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Italy – Department of Pharmacy and
Biotechnology.
- Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences (110/110 cum laude)
October 10th, 2011 – October 29th, 2014
Thesis: “Neuroblastoma: gene deregulation and new therapeutic strategies”.
University of Catania, Italy – Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences.
EXPERIENCE
- Research assistant
October 1st, 2020 – March 31st, 2021
Research Project: “Coordination of Glutaminolysis and Glycolysis in cancer cells”.
Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany – Institute of Veterinary Physiology and
Biochemistry.
SCHOLARSHIPS
- PhD Student transitional grant for third-party funded projects
October 1st, 2020 – March 31st, 2021
Research Project: “Coordination of Glutaminolysis and Glycolysis in cancer cells”.
Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany – Institute of Veterinary Physiology and
Biochemistry.
- Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 722605 - “TRANSMIT- TRANSlating the role of Mitochondria in Tumorigenesis”
October 1st, 2017 – September 30th, 2020
Research Project: “Coordination of Glutaminolysis and Glycolysis in cancer cells”.
Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany – Institute of Veterinary Physiology and
Biochemistry.
TEACHING ACTIVITY
Seminar and Laboratory Activities
June 2018
Workshop organized for PhD Students of the DRUID Project
Topics: Metabolic characteristics of proliferating cells, quantification of metabolites in cell culture
supernatants.
Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany – Institute of Veterinary Physiology and
Biochemistry.
INTERNSHIP
- Oroboros Instruments GmbH
June 14th, 2019 – September 12th, 2019
Topics: Oxygen consumption and H2O2 production measurements in cancer cells by high-resolution
respirometry.
Innsbruck, Austria.
-Biochemistry Laboratory
February 1st, 2016 – February 28th, 2017
Topics: Morphological and functional study of mitochondrial respiratory chain supercomplexes
by Blue-Native and Clear Native Page, SDS-Page, Western Blot.
Additional techniques: Cell cultures, mitochondria extraction, cell viability assays with UV-Vis
spectrophotometry, enzymatic activity assays, reactive oxygen species production measurements
by fluorescent probes.
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory
March 3rd, 2014 – May 30th, 2014
Techniques: Immunohistochemistry, PCR.
University of Catania, Italy – Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences.
TRAINING AND DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES
- Crowdfunding Campaign “NOW” – Two worlds one goal
June 29th, 2020 – July 29th, 2020
Online campaign - Bringing the world of scientific research closer to the world of patients by supporting four cancer patients’ associations - https://www.ideaginger.it/progetti/now.html
- Course in European public and private opportunities for R&D, Innovation and
Technology Transfer
September 30th, 2019 – October 3rd, 2019
Rome, Italy.
- Course in Science Communication and Dissemination – dissemination activities
in a high school (by Fondazione Umberto Veronesi)
May 2nd, 2019 – May 4th, 2019
Milan, Italy.
- Course in Social Entrepreneurship and Managerial Skills (by Dynamo Academy)
May 6th, 2019 – May 7th, 2019
Milan, Italy.
- Course in Biostatistics
May 8th, 2019 – May 9th, 2019
University of Bologna, Italy.
- Metabolomics Summer School (by Biocrates Life Science)
December 3rd, 2018 – December 6th, 2018
Innsbruck, Austria.
- Course in Cancer Nutrition
December 1st, 2018
Bertinoro di Romagna, Italy.
- Workshop of imaging tools for cells and tissue sections
October 26th, 2018 – October 27th, 2018
UCLouvain, Brussels.
- Course in principles of metabolomics and measuring mitochondrial function using the Seahorse Extracellular Flux Analyser
June 28-29th, 2018
University of Cambridge, UK.
