Gli studenti PhD
Valentina Grossi
BSc Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Università della Calabria
Unit of Genomic Approaches to Membrane Traffic - Michele Sallese MSc, PhD.
I am a thourth year Ph.D. student. My research project has been recently funded by the Italian association for Cancer Research (AIRC). It is aimed at highlighting the role of a new traffic-induced signalling cascade, recently identified in our research unit, in the regulation of tumour cell invasion. At the end of my PhD, I would like to continue my scientific carrier in Italy or abroad working in the field of translational cancer research.
Elena Bellafante
BSc Biological Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche
Laboratory of Lipid Metabolism and Cancer, Dr. Antonio Moschetta
I have come back in Abruzzo, at Consorzio Mario Negri Sud, as holder of a Carichieti fellowship and I have had the chance to join the PhD program with a project concerning the role of two coactivators PGC-1α and PGC-1β in metabolic syndrome and in particular way in the steatohepatitis. In the next future I hope to continue to work in this field and to have the opportunity to complete my training with a postdoc position abroad.
Kristyna Bicanova
Master in Biology, University of Prague
Laboratory of Tumour Cell Invasion - Roberto Buccione, MSc, PhD.
I arrived to Abruzzo thanks to Marie Curie Early Researcher Fellowship. I work on revealing the morpho-functional basis of the highly organized structure and function of invadopodia in tumour cells. Specifically, I will study the role of cholesterol-interacting protein caveolin 1 and membrane lipids in cytoskeletal organization and ECM degradation at invadopodia. In addition, I plan to extend the observed effects in other invasion-related cell behaviours, such as motility, and in 3D settings.
Paolo Ciufici
BSc Medical Biotechnology, University of L'Aquila
Laboratory of Tumour Cell Invasion - Roberto Buccione, MSc, PhD.
The purpose of my PhD project is to further elucidate the role in tumor progression of Fgd1, a RhoGEF with high specificity on the small GTPase Cdc42, involved in invadopodia formation and ECM degradation, by better understanding its cell biology, phosphorylation profile and potential interactors, thus contributing towards identifying regulatory connections.
Simone Di Paola
BSc Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II"
Laboratory of G-Protein-Mediated Signalling, Dr. Maria Di Girolamo
My PhD project is focused on intracellular ADP-ribosylation, one of the several post-translational modifications of proteins. In particular, my project is aimed at the identification of novel intracellular ADP-ribosylated substrates and at the charactersation of the novel enzymes involved in this reaction. Once obtained my PhD I would like to continue my scientific career spending a period as a Post-Doc in the United States or in the UK.
Antonio Matrone
BSc Biological Sciences, University of Bari
Laboratory of Signal-Dependent Transcription, Dr. Cristiano Simone
The aim of my project is to understand the role of the MAPK kinase p38 alpha in the metabolism of tumoral cells.
In the lab of Dr. Cristiano Simone, in which I am working, it was demonstrated that the pharmacological and genetic inhibition of p38 alpha leads to autophagy, cell cycle arrest and then cell death, both in vitro and in vivo studies in colorectal cancer. I demonstrated that this inhibition affects the glycolytic pathway of this tumor, decreasing the ATP production which is the most important fuel for tumoral cells. Thanks to these results, I have enlarged my studies to an other type of tumor: ovarian cancer, obtaining the same exciting results. In the last months of study, I am evaluating the role of p38 alpha also in prostate cancer cells.
Maria Giovanna Mosca
BSc Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II"
Unit of Functional Proteomics - Antonella Ragnini, PhD
Actually I work in the unit of Functional Proteomics headed by Dr Antonella Ragnini. My PhD project focuses the attention on Pik1p, an yeast phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase involved in the vesicular trafficking regulation. This is the last year of my PhD and I hope to continue my research activity in Italy.
Veronica Scurti
BSc Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, University of Chieti
Laboratory of Pharmacoepidemiology, Dr. Marilena Romero
I work in the Laboratory of Pharmacoepidemiology in which I follow study of pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance with the main aim of monitoring drug use, with a particular attention to evaluate tolerability of drugs. My PhD programme objective is to involve directly patients in the evaluation of benefits/risks profile of drugs: patients have to be considered as “experts” of their diseases and of treatments received. They could describe effectiveness and real acceptability of eventual side effects.
