Fields of Interest and Expertise

Molecular biology with eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell cultures

Vesicle vs Target Cell interaction models

Teaching

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Curriculum Vitae

October 2020 – Present PhD STUDENT IN INFORMATION ENGINEERING AT DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATIC ENGINEERING (DEEIE)University of Catania I am a biologist and a medical biotechnologist, I study cellular communication at the molecular level and try to understand how it works. In detail, I am concerned with verifying the effects of treatment with extracellular vesicles on the neuroprotection in Parkinson’s disease. From these experimental data I try to model cellular communication and to predict its effects for a possible engineering application (Lab on chip, release capacity, future therapies, etc.). I created a model that can describe vesicular internalization across pathways of fusion and endocytosis. This was possible thanks to a semester of research abroad in collaboration with Prof. I. Balasingham of the NTNU in Oslo (21/03/2022 - 23/09/2022). Now I’m studying the diffusion of extracellular vesicles in microlfluidic systems. I participated as a speaker in three conferences: – 1) ACM Nanocom 2021 in Catania (Italy) when I presented a poster reported in the Section of Publications; – 2) ACM Nanocom 2022 in Barcelona (Spain) when I presented two papers in the Section of Publications; – 3) ACM Nanocom 2023 in Coventry (United Kingdom) when I presented a paper in the Section of Publications. The doctorate will officially end on 30 January 2024, the title will be awarded between May and June 2024. Furthermore, I have been involved in the project PNRR-MCNT2-2023-12378255: Chronic non-communicable diseases (MCnT2) ad high impact on health and social care systems: innovations in the diagnostic field currently under evaluation. In this PhD experience I obtained some publications that I will report in the Section of Publications.

October 2019 – October 2020 THESIS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES (BIOMETEC) - UNIVERSITY OF CATANIA Thesis student at the Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences in the laboratory of Prof. Nunzio Iraci in the field of molecular biology for the duration of 1 year. I was involved in the study of neuroregenerative and anti-inflammatory effects of astrocytic extracellular vesicles, after treatment on human neurons where Parkinson’s disease was induced. Classical molecular biology techniques have been used: – DNA, RNA and protein extraction; – cellular treatments; – cell viability and toxicity studies. This experience has shaped my working method and has resulted in some publications listen in the references.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

October 2018 – October 2020 MASTER’S DEGREE IN MEDICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY Department of biomedical sciences (BIOMETEC), University of Catania, Italy I attended the master’s degree course in medical biotechnology at the BIOMETEC department in Catania. I integrated a lot of knowledge in the medical field (medical genetics, medical biochemistry, clinical microbiology), I learned to approach the most innovative new generation sequencing techniques (DNA and RNA), Western Blot, Data maining, data interpretation and much more. I did a one-year internship in the laboratory of Prof. N. Iraci at the Biological Tower (BIOMETEC) where I learned to isolate, characterize and use extracellular vesicles in treatments; structure a cellular treatment and study its effects; I have implemented my working skills with cell lines, primary cultures of astrocytes and neuronal stem cells, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical techniques. I acquired the title of medical biotechnologist on 10/22/2020 with the grade of 110/110 cum laude, the thesis is: Effect of chemokine treatment on dopaminergic neuroprotection mediated by astrocytic exosomes.

October 2015 – September 2018 BACHELOR DEGREE IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Italy I obtained the title at the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences located in Via Androne (Catania), on 09/26/2018 with a grade of 105/110. I carried out the internship in the field of molecular biology, in the laboratory of Prof. A. Messina and Prof. Vito De Pinto where I also carried out the thesis entitled: Purification of VDAC mitochondrial proteins from the haploid HAP1 human cancer cell line. I have experience in cell and bacterial culture, fume hood, protein, lipid, DNA and RNA purification, agarose gel run and SDS-PAGE and PCR. My thesis work focused on the electrochemical study of VDAC proteins located on the inner mitochondrial membrane, in particular, in Lateral Amyotrophic Sclerosis.

September 2010 – July 2015 SCIENTIFIC HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA Scientific high school, Concetto Marchesi, Mascalucia, CT, Italy I obtained my scientific high school diploma on 08/07/2015 with a grade of 86/100.

Awards

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Unit

• Catania