Our lab develops and applies innovative technologies integrating experimental and computational approaches to study and engineer living organisms with the aim of advancing therapies for rare and common disorders. One of the main tools in our research is microfluidics, a technique that allows cell probing in real-time and precise measuring of individual cell response over time thus enabling quantitative observation and mathematical modelling of biological processes. The lab has exploited this platform to achieve precise temporal control of transcriptional and signalling pathways in yeast and mammalian cells. We are currently using it to gain novel understanding on how the stress response in mammalian cells is regulated and how it could be re-engineered to yield super-producer cell lines capable of speeding up the production of biological drugs and viral vectors for gene therapy while reducing costs.
Our lab has also pioneered the concept of using transcriptional responses to drug treatments in cells and tissues to reposition drugs for the therapy of rare genetic disorders and common diseases. We are now extending this approach to the use of single-cell transcriptomics in cancer to identify drug combinations to prevent development of drug resistance.
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I am a Biomedical Engineer by training and I believe that cross-disciplinary research blending Engineering with Molecular and Cell Biology will greatly advance our understanding of rare and complex diseases and how to treat them.
Additional Funding
- EC- Re-MEND - Building REsilience against MEntal illness during ENDocrine-sensitive life stages (2023-2027)
- AIRC- Molecular phenotyping of breast cancer at the single-cell level to predict drug therapy for personalised medicine (2023-2024)
- AIRC- Explore therapeutic resistance of triple negative breast cancer with single-cell transcriptomics and lineage tracing (2023-2024)
- iPC – Individualised Pediatric Cure (2019-2023), European Commission H2020. Role: Beneficiary