Biologist

Staff researcher at the “Pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics” Research Unit of the Osteoncology, Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Innovative Therapies (OSOTT).

• 1989: Bachelor of Science in Human Biology at the University of Vienna (Austria).
• 1993: Master of Science in Human Biology at the University of Vienna (Austria).

1997: Doctor of Science in Human Biology at the University of Vienna (Austria).

• 1997-1999: post-doc at the Medical Faculty of the University Leiden (The Netherlands), Department of Cytochemistry and Cytometry with an Erwin Schroedinger Fellowship of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF);
• 1999-2001: post-doc at the CCRI, St. Anna Children’s Hospital, Vienna (Austria), Laboratory for Molecular Cytogenetic and Cell Biology of Paediatric Solid Tumours;
• 2001-2003: post-doc in the Research Unit “Studies on drug resistance in musculoskeletal tumours" at the Laboratory of Oncologic Research of the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute with a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship within the EC program "Improving Human Research Potential and the Socio-economic Knowledge Base";
• 2003-2009: post-doc in the Research Unit “Studies on drug resistance in musculoskeletal tumours" at the Laboratory of Oncologic Research of the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute;
• From july 2009 to may 2021: staff researcher in the “Pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics” Research Unit at the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology of the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute;
• From june 2021: staff researcher at the “Pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics” Research Unit of the Osteoncology, Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Innovative Therapies (OSOTT).

• In vitro culture and characterization of cell lines and drug-resistant variants of musculoskeletal sarcomas, with particular reference to osteosarcoma
• Study of the in vitro effects on pharmacosensitive and drug-resistant human osteosarcoma lines of chemopotentiating agents, reverting chemoresistance and target-specific drugs of possible therapeutic use
• Molecular technologies: nucleic acid extraction, expression and polymorphism analysis using quantitative real-time PCR techniques, targeted next-generation-sequencing (NGS)
• Evaluation of protein expression in tissue and cellular samples of musculoskeletal sarcomas using immunofluorescence, immunohistochemical and immunocytochemical techniques
• Evaluation of genetic alterations in musculoskeletal sarcomas by "Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization" (FISH), "Comparative Genomic Hybridization" (CGH), DNA and cDNA microarrays, immunocytochemistry, immunohistochemistry and molecular biology techniques
• Basic bioinformtic analysis of experimental data obtained from microarrays and / or quantitative real-time PCR techniques
• Evaluation of the clinical impact of the experimental data obtained through analysis of the correlations with the main clinical-pathological parameters specific to each individual tumor, and information on the clinical course

1990-94: at the Institute of Human Biology, University of Vienna (Austria):

• Tutorials for the Practical course I in Anthropology;
• Assistance in writing the chapter “Ecologic systems and their alterations“ for a textbook of biology for the 6th class of secondary school.

5-7 april and 8-10 november 2004: Teaching within the Course for Technicians of the Laboratories of the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute.

Research Projects:

• 1997-1999: Principal Investigator of the project "Development and application of new techniques for detection of pathogenic mutations in situ: Detection of high and low abundant mRNA by fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques" and "Monitoring of p21 and p53 gene expression by mRNA fluorescence in situ hybridization on cultured human cells after serum starvation and UV irradiation" (FWF) (No. J1481-MED) at the Department of Cytochemistry and Cytometry, Medical Faculty of the University Leiden (NL);
• 1999-2001: involved in the research projects "Development of an automated MRD detection system for neuroblastoma cells in bone marrow samples", "Characterization of translocation processes in Ewing tumors" and "Fine-mapping of DNA probes in the chromosomal region 1p36.3" at the Laboratory for Molecular Cytogenetic and Cell Biology of Paediatric Solid Tumours, CCRI, St. Anna Children’s Hospital, Vienna (A);
• 2000-2001: responsible for the international multi-center study "Comparison of genetic aberrations in Ewing tumors with clinical data in order to find new prognostic markers in a large series of patients with Ewing tumors" at the Laboratory for Molecular Cytogenetic and Cell Biology of Paediatric Solid Tumours, CCRI, St. Anna Children’s Hospital, Vienna (A);
• 2001-2003: responsible of the project "Genetic alterations associated with drug resistance in human osteosarcoma cells" (proposal No MCFI-2000-00066) at the Laboratory of Oncologic Research of the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute;
• 2013-15 (prolonged until 2017): responsible of the project “Validazione di marcatori genetici e farmacogenetici nell'osteosarcoma” ("Validation of genetic and pharmacogenetic markers in osteosarcomas") at the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology of the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute (Coordinator of the Research Line: Dr. P. Picci).

Member of the Research Unit of the following projects:

• 2002-2003: “Study of genetic and molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in osteosarcomas as basis for innovative therapies” granted from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC);
• 2003-2006: “Genetic and biomolecular profiles of prognostic value and predictive for drug response in musculoskeletal sarcomas”, granted from the Italian Ministery of Health; 
• 2006-2009: “Selecting and validating drug targets from the human kinome for high risk paediatric cancers (KidsCancerKinome, KCK)” (Coordinators: Dr. G. Vassal – Pr. H. Caron);
• 2006-2011: European Community Network of Excellence “European Network to Promote Research into Uncommon Cancers in Adults and Children: Pathology, Biology and Genetics of Bone Tumours (EuroBoNeT)” (Coordinator Dr. P. Hoogendoorn);
• 2007-2009: "Validation of candidate drug resistance-related genes in osteosarcoma" granted from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC);
• 2007-2010: “Sviluppo di nuove terapie nei sarcomi muscoloscheletrici: immunoterapia e target terapia a confronto” (Coordinator Dott. P. Picci), granted from the Italian Ministery of Health, “Programma Alleanza contro il Cancro – Programma 3 (Conv. ACC10)”;
• 2008-2012: “Profilo genetico e proteomico in relazione alla risposta ai farmaci chemioterapici nei sarcomi” (Coordinator: Dr. MG Daidone), granted from the Italian Ministery of Health, “Programma Integrato Oncologia” (Integrated Oncology Program);
• 2010-2013: "Overcoming drug resistance in osteosarcoma by targeting ABC transporters and protein kinases" (Coordinator: Dr. Massimo Serra) granted from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC);
• 2015-2017 (prolonged until June 2018): "Cisplatin resistance in osteosarcoma: Validation of new therapeutic targets and drugs for tailored clinical approaches" (Coordinator: Dr. Massimo Serra) granted from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC);
• 2018-2021: "Efficacy assessment of new targeted combination therapies for musculoskeletal sarcomas as the basis for tailoring patients' treatment" (Coordinator: Dr. Massimo Serra) finanziato dal Ministero della Salute Italiano nell’ambito della Ricerca Finalizzata 2016;
• 2019-2023: “Toward tailored treatments for osteosarcoma through validation of pharmacogenomic markers” (Coordinator: Dr. Massimo Serra) granted from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC).
• 2020: "Programma nazionale di oncologia personalizzata per gli IRCCS della rete ACC" ("National Customized Oncology Program for Scientific Research Hospitals of the ACC Network" - Coordinator: Dr. Ruggero De Maria Marchiano) granted by the Italian Ministery of Health (UFF5-2019-2366755). Reference Scientist for the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute of the Working Group "Genomics"

Editorial Boards:

since 2019: member of the Editorial Board as Associate Editor of Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics, a speciality section within Frontiers in Genetics and Frontiers in Pharmacology

Memberships of Scientific Associations:

• Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG)
• Italian Association for Cell Cultures (AICC).

Scientific Database Codes
ORCID: 0000-0002-9316-5095
Researcher ID : Q-1212-2016
Scopus AU-ID: 6602143906 H-I 24

Pubblications (up to August 2022)
Author or Co-Author of:
- 72 publications in international journals with impact factor (H index SCOPUS = 30)
- 3 book chapters

The main scientific interests are focused on osteosarcoma and the most common bone and soft-tissue sarcomas, in particular on:

• the analysis of genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for drug resistance
• the identification and validation of candidate prognostic and therapeutic markers
• the preclinical testing and validation of novel therapeutic approaches and new target - or pathway - specific drugs
• the validation of polymorphisms in tumour and normal cells in relation to the drugs used in first - and second line chemotherapic treatment.