2002-2006: BSc in Veterinarian Biotechnologies at University of Milan (Italy) and Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain).
2006-2007: MSc in Biotechnological Sciences at at University of Milan (Italy).
2008-2011PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at University of Insubria (Varese, Italy)
COMMITMENT TO CANCER RESEARCH
Since my PhD, I dedicated my studies on the contribution of NK cells to tumour progression and angiogenesis. For the first time, I identified a new pro-angiogenic NK cells subset in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Neoplasia, 2013; JNCI, 2014), that I termed TINK/TANKs (JNCI, 2014). I identified a pro-angiogenic/decidual like NK cell subset in patients with CRC (FASEB J, 2018) and tumour pleural effusions (JIR, 2018) and characterized the molecular drivers orchestrating this angiogenic switch. Recently, I also demonstrated that circulating NK cells in prostate cancer patints can support angiogenesis by directly activating endothelial cells, and indirectly, by inducing M2-like/TAMs (F. in Immunology, 2021).
I developed studies on cancer chemo-preventive activities of natural compounds, another field of my interests, supported by a three years fellowship from the “Fondazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro” (FIRC), with a project aimed at identifying chemo-preventive approaches to target cancer stem cells (CSCs).
My studies on cancer chemoprevention and pro-angiogenic NKs have also been funded by two postdoctoral grants by the “Fondazione Umberto Veronesi”, 2016 and 2017. I presented my NK studies, as invited speaker, at national and international congresses: SIICA-Siena, Italy (May 13-15th 2013); EACR22- Barcelona (July 7-10th 2012); ICI-Milan (August 22-27th 2013); My studies on NK cells in CRC patients have obtained a “Scholar-in-Training Award”, at the AACR Annual meeting 2015, April 18-22nd, Philadelphia. I’m member of the Board of the Italian Society of Cancerology (SIC), the largest and oldest cancer research association in Italy. I am responsible in my hosting Institution of an independent line of research on NK cells contribution to inflammatory chronic diseases.
Since 2013 I co-authored 60 scientific publications in peer-review journals, with an h-index of 24 (Scopus).
RESEARCH TOPICS:
1) Natural killer (NK) and Innate Lymphoid Cell (ILC) biology in cancer and cardiovascular diseases
2) Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) as targets for combination therapies
3) Drug repurposing in oncology
4) Chemopreventive, angiopreventive and immunomodulatory activities of natural/diet-derived molecules
5) Cardiovascular preventive activities of natural/diet-derived molecules, against chemotherapy-induces damages.
FUNDED PROJECTS
1.“Normalizing the fibrotic tumor microenvironment to reactivate immune response in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: the
RNASET2 alarmin-like molecule as novel immunomodulatory effector for (combination)therapies”. Funding agency PRIN finaziato dal Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR). Project duration: 2 years, 2024-2026. Budget: 200.000 euros. Role in the project: PI.
2."Tumor-infiltrating/tumor associated natural killer cells in prostate cancer progression and angiogenesis". Funding agency: Italian Association for cancer Research (AIRC), MFAG-22818. Project duration: 2020-2024. Budget: 498.000 euros. Role in the project: PI.
3.“Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma microenvironment: interplay between fibrosis and NK cells”. Funding agency: Fondazione Cariplo. Project duration: 2020-2022. Budget: 80.000 euros. Role in the project: Partner.
4.”Integrated strategies for the study of tissue and molecular determinants of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. Project funded within the Ricerca corrente Reti IRCCS 2022. Project duration: 1 year, 2022-2023. Budget: 95.000 euros. Role in the project: Partner.
5.“Phenotype and functional characterization of peripheral blood NK cells in patients with symptomatic atherosclerosis”. Funding agency: Institutional funds. Project duration: October-2019-october 2020. Budget: 12.000 euros. Role in the project: Co-PI.
6. “Verso un rene in provetta”. Funding agency: Bicocca Crowd funding. Budget: 6.735 euros. Role in the project: Partner.
7.“Cardio-protective activities of a polyphenol-rich extracts from olive-mill wastewaters”. Funding agency: Donation. Project duration: 2018-2019. Budget: 30.000 euros. Role in the project: Co-PI.
8.“Effects of ultra-purified polyphenol-rich olive mill wastewater extracts on tumour cells (prostate and lung cancer): molecular pathways involved”. Funding agency: Donation. Project duration: 2018-2019. Budget: 30.000 euros. Role in the project: Co-PI.