Alberto Bardelli
After his undergraduate studies, Bardelli moved to the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in London where he obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular biology from the University College London (UCL). He moved to the United States in 1999 for a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory directed by Bert Vogelstein at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore). Here Bardelli began studying the genomics of cancer. One of his most significant publications from that period identified for the first-time mutations in kinase genes (the kinome) that are associated with colorectal cancer. As an independent investigator, he pioneered the combined use of genomics, patients’ avatars and liquid biopsies to accurately predict tumor's response and resistance to targeted agents. Bardelli’s group showed that the analysis of circulating tumor DNA (liquid biopsies) allows monitoring tumor’s evolution and resistance to targeted therapies and was the first to pinpoint the emergence of KRAS/NRAS mutations in the blood of patients during EGFR blockade. In 2022 Bardelli has been appointed as Scientific Director of IFOM ETS – The AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan. Overall, he has authored more than 250 scientific articles of which over 100 as an independent investigator.
Giovanni Germano
Giovanni Germano is an assistant professor at the University of Torino acting as Histology Course Leader of Biotechnology. In 2011 he got the Ph.D. in basic and applied immunology studying the in vivo effects of a registered compound (trabectedin) on tumor associated macrophages in the Mantovani’e group at the Humanitas Clinical Institute. After a postdoc at the University Hospital of Zurich in the Renner’s laboratory, he is now a senior scientist in the immune-oncology asset of the Bardelli’s laboratory. He is a cancer immunologist with a deep understanding of how to turn a cold tumor (immune refractory) into hot (immune responsive). As an expert on immune oncology in the group, he is an active contributor of several projects coordinating a committed and engaged network, to ensure alignment of appropriate technologies, capabilities, and resources for the development of high impact projects. He is co-founder of NeoPhore LTD, a company aimed at identifying chemical compounds able to inhibit DNA damage repair pathways.
Mariangela Russo
Mariangela Russo is an Assistant Professor of University of Turin, at Candiolo Cancer Institute in Italy.
Her scientific career started with a Master’s degree in “Pharmaceutical Biotechnology” and a II level Master specialization in “Cancer Pharmacy and Pharmacology.”
She then completed her PhD in “Complex Systems for Life Sciences” in the biotechnology company Horizon Discovery in Cambridge (UK), where she learned how to exploit cell engineering and pharmacological high-throughput screening to characterize oncogenic mutants and their role in response to clinical treatments.
As a post-doctoral fellow, in Alberto Bardelli’s lab, thanks also to the collaboration with national and international groups of researchers and clinicians, she gained extensive knowledge and practical expertise in identification and characterization of biomarkers of sensitivity and resistance to cancer therapy, aimed at identifying novel therapeutic approaches to overcome resistance. In this frame, Dr. Russo personally lead the discovery of mechanisms and previously unknown processes of primary and secondary resistance to targeted therapies in CRC. Moreover, she lead projects that determined how tumor evolution affects response to therapies and how to overcome these mechanisms.
Elisa Mariella
Elisa Mariella is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Torino (UniTO).
In the last decade, she has gained a great expertise in computational biology and bioinformatics. Her scientific career started with a Bachelor's degree in "Biotechnology" and a Master's degree in "Molecular Biotechnology". She subsequently completed her PhD in "Biomedical Sciences and Oncology". She has always been fascinated by mechanisms of gene expression regulation and she initially contributed to the development of an algorithm for the quantitative study of alternative polyadenylation based on standard RNA-seq data. Afterwards, she has been active in the field of human population genetics, working on different projects that have investigated the effect of human genetic variants on intermediate molecular phenotypes such as gene expression profiling. In 2019 she joined Alberto Bardelli Lab. In this frame, Dr. Mariella is applying her expertise in multi-omics data analysis in several projects that explore different aspects of colorectal cancer (CRC). Her work mainly concerns the identification of novel drug targets and strategies to overcome drug resistance in CRC.
Mariachiara Mammone
Mariachiara Mammone is a research fellow at the University of Torino (UniTO) and joined the project on 2023.
She holds a degree in Biomedical Sciences applied to diagnostic, with a background in both physiology and in vitro pharmacology. Her research activity started during her master’s degree thesis, with a study on the effects of novel experimental compounds on the intracellular signaling of different cell lines, where she gained expertise on cellular models and live-imaging techniques.
She is currently working on exposing characteristics and vulnerabilities of colorectal cancer, particularly focusing on genetic and metabolic profiling.
Paolo Battuello
Paolo Battuello is a PhD student in the "Complex Systems for Quantitative Biomedicine" program at the University of Turin (UniTO). He holds a master's degree in Molecular Biotechnology and his background includes both molecular oncology and bioinformatics. His research activity began during his master’s thesis, with a computational study on the impact of temozolomide treatment on the genetics of colorectal cancer. He is currently a bioinformatic research collaborator at IFOM (Milan) and his work mainly concerns cancer genetics, with a particular focus on the study and application of mutational signatures in colorectal cancer.
Eleonora Piumatti
Eleonora Piumatti is a research collaborator in IFOM (Milan), currently enrolled in PhD program of Complex Systems for Quantitative Biomedicine at the University of Turin (UniTO). She holds a degree in Pharmacy and her background includes both in vitro pharmacology and molecular oncology.
Her research experience started in Bonn (Germany) where she studied platinum resistance in colorectal cancer and where she gained expertise in drug screening with the aim of identifying potential vulnerabilities and overcoming resistance to chemotherapy.
Since 2021 the focus of her work is on anti-tumor immunity and how to turn “hot” a “cold” tumor which is not likely to trigger an immune response. She particularly investigates the role and the impact of DNA Mismatch Repair inactivation on cancer immunosurveillance and immunotherapy response.
Simona Destefanis
Simona Destefanis, MA; Project Manager
Simona received a Master's Degree in Foreign languages and literature at the University of Torino. Simona has a wide experience in project management of EC (FP7 and Horizon2020 programs) and national funded grants, in the coordination of the activities related to the projects, recruitment of personnel, and support for the dissemination and communication of the results.
Since 2008 she is a Personal Assistant and the administrative support in the management of the Laboratory. She has over fifteen years of experience in the organization of small conferences, collaborative meetings and team building events. She is currently the Project Manager of the grant.
The project also involves a small biotech company, NeoPhore, based in Cambridge (UK), of which Prof. Bardelli is a founder and scientific advisor.
NeoPhore, started based on Bardelli’s lab publication, is focused on developing inhibitors of DNA repair proteins to generate neoantigens in cancer cells and will provide the drug discovery and development platform of the project.