Education & Training

2005: B.S. in Biomolecular Biotechnologies, University of Bologna, Italy

• Thesis: Chiron Vaccines, Siena, Italy (PI: Vincenzo Scarlato)

2007: M.S. in Biomolecular Biotechnologies, University of Bologna, Italy

• Thesis: Max Planck Institute, Goettingen, Germany (PI: Markus Zweckstetter / Christian Griesinger / Stefano Ciurli)

2011: Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, ETH Zuerich, Switzerland (Thesis co-advisors: Hans-Uwe Simon / Beat Meier)
2011-2016: Postdoc, UCLA, Los Angeles, US (PI: David Eisenberg)

Honors & Awards

2005: Bachelor Degree, cum Laude honors
2006: UNIBO Fellowship for Research Training in a Foreign Country
2006: IAESTE – DAAD fellowship
2007: Master Degree, cum Laude honors
2010: Chip Miller Memorial Junior Research Travel Award
2014: AACR-Millennium Fellowship in Prostate Cancer Research
2015: DGSOM Travel Childcare Award
2015: AACR-Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research Scholar-In-Training Award
2015: Hirshberg Foundation Seed Award
2017: Elife Ambassador
2018: Lynda’s Fund Pilot Study Award
2018: Scialog Fellow

Upcoming Talks & Conferences

2019: CSUDH Biology Department Series, Carson (CA), March 14

• Protein aggregation in cancer: biological significance and therapeutic targeting

2019: First Functional Precision Summit, Atlanta (GA), March 30

• Tumor organoids to model rare cancers for functional precision medicine applications

2019: East Coast NF Surgical Meeting, New York (NY), May 5

• TBD

Selected Talks

2010: XIIth International Symposium on Amyloidosis: From molecular mechanisms toward the cure of systemic amyloidosis

• Toward a Comprehension of Functional Aggregation into Amyloids in Pituitary Secretory Granules

2010: Gordon Research Conference: Proprotein Processing, Trafficking & Secretion

• A Role for Functional Amyloids in the Secretory Pathway

2012: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meeting: Mechanisms and Models of Cancer

• Design and characterization of p53 aggregation inhibitors: A new approach to cancer therapeutics

2014: 13th International Summer School: Inflammation, Immunomodulation, Inspiration

• Inhibiting p53 aggregation restores its function and induces apoptosis

2015: AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research: Exploiting Vulnerabilities

• A designed inhibitor of p53 self-aggregation rescues p53 tumor-suppression function in high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma

2017: NTAP Cutaneous Neurofibroma Investigator Meeting, Baltimore (MD)
    •  A 3D Cutaneous Neurofibroma Model for Automated High-Throughput Drug    
       Screenings
2018: CCMT Seminar UPenn / CHOP, Philadelphia (PA)
     • Protein aggregation in cancer: p53 and beyond
2018: NF Surgical Meeting, Santa Monica (CA)
     • Cutaneous Neurofibroma tumor organoids
2018: Joint Global Neurofibromatosis Conference, Paris (France), November 2-6

• Organoid models of cutaneous neurofibromas for high-throughput drug screenings

2018: Annual ASCB-EMBO Meeting, San Diego (CA), December 8-12

• Modeling rare cancers using patient-derived tumor organoids