June 2025
Alice has joined the group as a new MSc trainee: she will work on expression data in (poly)phenols bioavailability. Thanks to my dear friend Dr. Tobia Fantoni, I had the opportunity to give a lecture for the Asomi College of Sciences in the "RIS Inspire - Deep Tech in Regenerative Agriculture", where I talked about nutrigenomics and one health approaches. Finally, on the very last day of the month, I have been awarded the "Novogene Italian Sequencing Project Award 2025"!
May 2025
May brought interesting news: my collaboration with Dr. Paul Lyons at the University of Cambridge has been extended by one year; moreover, I obtained two oral communications in Liverpool at the ISCB ISMB/ECCB2025 during the Student Council Symposium (SCS2025) and in the Translational Medical Informatics (TransMed) track. In the middle of the month, I attended the 7th edition of the Yakult Academy on Nutrition Communication in Milan.
April 2025
At the beginning of the month, we published a new article in which we performed a GWAS on first episode psychoses. I am officially part of the CIBB2025 Program Committee. Some relaxation during Easter time has triggered new ideas and projects: can't wait to explore them!
March 2025
Several research projects are taking shape. This month, we are finalising some work that started during my PhD. On Wednesday, the 19th, I attended the press conference of Associazione Davide Rodella in Parma: it was a fantastic moment to share experiences and make new collaborations rise. Can't wait to see where these are going!
February 2025
February was one month that seemed like three. On February 10th, I gave a seminar entitled "Polygenic Risk Scores in Oncology: From Research to Clinics" thanks to the organisation of Dr Davide Martorana, Dr Roberta Minari and Prof. Marcello Tiseo from the University-Hospital of Parma. In the middle of the month, I moved to Parma, starting a new chapter of my life.
January 2025
After a short break in the Italian Alps, a new year has started! A new single-cell RNA sequencing article has been published thanks to Laura's great work! Moreover, I am officially a member of the Italian Society for Human Genetics (SIGU).
December 2024
December started with the 2nd edition of Young Minds at Work: Blending Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, a symposium for young researchers I co-chaired and co-organised! With the advent of the Holiday season, it's time for relaxation and time with family and friends to regain energy and focus on 2025 objectives! Happy Holidays!
November 2024
November has always been my favourite month, but this year has outperformed itself! At the beginning of the month, together with the Nephrology unit of the University of Verona, we published a paper on kidney diseases and exome sequencing. At the end of the month, I held a lesson on low-coverage whole genome sequencing for the Scuola Medica Ospedaliera (Hospital Medical School) in Rome. Finally, on Saturday 30th, I was awarded the 27th "Francesco Rodella" scholarship for my project on EGPA.
October 2024
How to sum up October? Conferences, networking and writing! On October 4th I presented the multi-omic work we are performing in the Medical Genetics unit at the 4th Annual Research Day of the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Parma. Then, I flew to Boston (MA, USA) to present our genomic investigation on polyphenols and cardiometabolic health with the Human Nutrition Unit, what a wonderful experience! Finally, I am officially a member of the Atlas for Variant Effect.
September 2024
On September 24th, I defended my PhD thesis entitled "Exome-Wide Association Studies on familial and sporadic Eosiniphilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis". In the meantime, I took part in some STEM projects for high schools and I am preparing some conferences and tutorials for the next months.
August 2024
August means holidays: some relax, some sports and a lot of new ideas to test and try! Let's move on to the final quarter of 2024!
July 2024
What a month! It was full of great news! My contribution to the 11th International Conference on Polyphenols and Health was accepted as an oral presentation: in October, I will fly to Boston (MA) at the ICPH2024. The introduction of my PhD thesis was published as a review in MDPIìs Current Issues in Molecular Biology: we reviewed the current knowledge on the genetic and non-genetic factors of EGPA: look at it here.
June 2024
At the beginning of June, I attended the 17th Berlin Summer Meeting at the Max Delbruck Center regarding Artificial Intelligence in Genomics. Back in Italy, we started setting up the talk for BE in HU-BS, which will happen in Brescia in July. With Laura Gerotto, a new trainee student, I will try to uncover the contribution of the X chromosome to the autoimmune feature of EGPA.
May 2024
May started in Ljubljana, where I attended Fondazione Menarini's 6th symposium on nephrolithiasis as a Faculty member and Invited speaker. It was an amazing opportunity to meet top-level scientists and nephrologists. At the GM Lab, we officially ended our course on AI and bioinformatics in high schools: meeting with possible future scientists has been inspiring, hopefully on both sides.
April 2024
Time is flying fast! A lot of work, many projects and hopefully a lot of publications. Only the future has the answer. Together with the SCS2023 team, we finally published our Community report on Bioinformatic Advances. Have a look at it!
March 2024
What a month! I am officially a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Parma, working in Prof. Mena's and Prof. Barili's groups. I am excited to start this new scientific adventure. Together with the GM Lab, we started our course on "Bioinformatics and Life Sciences: Decode the future!" for third-year high school students in Montichiari. Moreover, I am part of three different boards: as a young mentor for BE in HU-BS Martinengo, as chair of the finance committee in ISCB's SCS2024, and as a member of the programme committee at CIBB2024. Finally, my trainee student Caterina has graduated in the M.Sc. in Molecular and Medical Biotechnology: congrats!
February 2024
February was a month dedicated to writing and teaching. On the one hand, I have finished the draft of my PhD thesis and I am moving towards the end of my PhD journey. On the other hand, at the GM Lab, we started teaching our course "Human DNA: an unexpected journey" to high school students from all over the Veneto region.
January 2024
2024 started in a fantastic way! Together with Laura, we published our first Nature on "Why do you science?". I officially became a PhD candidate and very soon I will start a post-doc! But the best has yet to come!
December 2023
This year is ending and with it my time as a PhD student. From January, new adventures are starting and I can't wait to reveal the news. Happy Holidays!
November 2023
November has been a transition month: a lot of opportunities open, some projects are coming to an end and some new ones are arising. Finger crossed for a great ending of 2023!
October 2023
My Cambridge experience has come to an end: it was an unbelievable and inspiring experience, for which I am totally grateful; goodbyes are always hard. In the meantime, the cooperation with the Forensic Medicine Lab has led to my first paper in the field. This month closes with my enrolment to the European Renal Association (ERA).
September 2023
The second month as a visiting PhD students went by way too quickly. A took some weekend trips across the Southern England, visiting places I have been during my stays in High School. A lot of news are waiting to be delivered, just a matter of time. After months of work, on Monday 25th the PhD day of the Life and Health Sciences course went finally live: I presented my research work on renal serum electrolytes and I won the best abstract prize.
August 2023
August opened with an amazing news: I am a visiting PhD student at the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), hosted by Prof. Ken Smith and Dr. Paul Lyons. What a great opportunity, thanks to the cooperation with Dr. Davide Martorana and Prof. Augusto Vaglio. Moreover, our editorial for the special issue "The interplay between Microbiota and Human Complex Traits" has been published on Microorganisms.
July 2023
July passed in a blink of an eye. Our review regarding genomic instability from an evolutionary perspective has been published in IJMS: I am so proud of this work and grateful to have been part of it! Together with Laura, we attended and led the 19th Student Council Symposium (SCS2023) in Lyon, the annual meeting for young computational biologist promoted by ISCB: we did a lot of hard work, we had a lot of fun and above all the possibility to expand our network and to meet inspiring people and scientists.
June 2023
June has been a month for celebration and transition. First of all, my dear friend and colleague Laura got married and I have attended a fantastic ceremony! Moreover, several events are coming and this month was the time to set them all up, or at least to try my best in it! Finally, I have officially become a member of the Bioinformatics Italian Society (BITS).
May 2023
It's always hard to say goodbye. My international experience at the Erasmus MC has come to an end: feeling blessed for such a beautiful time and for all the valuable scientists and human beings I had the opportunity to meet. In the past weeks, my first first-author paper has been published on BIOCELL: have a look at it here!
April 2023
My Dutch experience is going great! I am meeting fantastic people and researchers, I am learning a lot of methods and subjects and opening my sights and perspectives for my future. To sum up, I feel totally inspired by the Erasmus MC work environment and the MolSysEpi group.
March 2023
I am officially a visiting PhD student: from mid-March to the end of May I am visiting the Molecular and Systems Epidemiology group, headed by Prof. Mohsen Ghanbari, at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam. Our work will focus in continuing the studies started on the INCIPE cohort in order to replicate the results on the Rotterdam Study cohort.
February 2023
Great changes are going to happen: I can't wait to tell you everything about them!
In this Academic Year, I am holding the "Genetics 1" laboratory for BSc+MSc Medical students at the University of Verona, as a tutor of Prof. Malerba's main course: every year I am thrilled to meet new students and share ideas and perspectives!
January 2023
Happy New Year! This 2023 has started with wonderful news: my first appearance as co-author in a scientific paper. We studied ten candidate genes causing Mendelian calcium nephrolithiasis in the INCIPE cohort. You can find the full paper here.
December 2022
In December, I have contributed with an oral communication entitled "BioVRPi: can bioinformatics and genomics become pocket-sized and affordable to everyone?" at the 1st workshop Young Minds at Work. Moreover, one of my very first papers is under revision: I can't wait to let us know all the details! I am also part of the Student Council of the University of Verona as one of the post-graduate student representative.
November 2022
November was a month full of works: let see if results will come in the following months. Moreover, I am part of the organising committee of Young Minds at Work, an online workshop taking place online on December 16th 2022. I have been elected as PhD student and Post-doc representative in the Academic Senate of the University of Verona for the ADI Verona list.
October 2022
My final year as a PhD student has started: time is running and a lot of work needs to be done!
Together with Dr. Laura Veschetti, Dr. Angela Sandri and Prof. Giovanni Malerba, I am a Guest Editor at JoVE with a call for contribution entitled Current Molecular and Bioinformatics Methods in Microbial Genomics. Check it out here!
September 2022
September was a month full of events! I presented as a speaker a work on WES imputation at SIGU2022 conference in Trieste and theBioVRPi project at the ESCS2022 in Sitges. Moreover, my friend and colleague Laura Veschetti finally achieved her PhD: super congratulations to her! I have also been elected as President of ISCB's Italian Regional Study Group (RSGItaly) together with Claudia Mengoni as Secretary: let's do this!
August 2022
Very few weeks to go: I'm a speaker at SIGU2022 conference in Trieste (Italy) and speaker and organiser at ESCS2022 in Sitges (Spain). I'm talking about WES imputation (SIGU) and giving an overview on the BioVRPi project after nearly two years of work (ESCS).
July 2022
Congrats Alessio! My second MSc trainee student has been graduated in Molecular and Medical Biotechnology at the University of Verona.
Moreover, summertime is bringing many news: I can't wait for September to come and to let you know!
June 2022
June ended with the 18th BITS Meeting (BITS2022) in which I have presented a poster together with my friend and colleague Laura and an oral presentation! Moreover, with all the guys from ISCB RSG Italy, we finally staged our PhD Symposium! What a pleasure to meet them!
May 2022
May was a month full of new beginnings! I am part of the ESCS2022 programme committee.
The BITS Meeting 2022 is coming: I will participate with an oral presentation (Young BITS-RSG PhD Symposium) and a poster (General meeting): wish me luck!
April 2022
Together with ISCB RSG Italy, I am part of the Symposium Committee for the BITS Meeting 2022, which is taking place in Verona from June 27th to June 29th. See you there!
March 2022
I get my first assignment as a teacher! I am giving lectures for the "Research Internship" to second year students of the Medical School of the University of Verona! Together we are discussing about bioinformatics and genomics.
February 2022
A new collaboration has started: I'm providing bioinformatic support to the Forensic Medicine research group headed by Prof. Turrina at the University of Verona!
January 2022
Happy New Year! Officially I'm a member of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) and part of its Italian Regional Study Group (RSG Italy).
December 2021
I've presented my first poster regarding our project BioVRPi at the 16th edition of BBCC Meetings.
The poster is available here
November 2021
A new start: welcome to my website!
October 2021
My first MSc trainee student has graduated! Congrats Benedetta Leoni and good luck for your PhD in Germany!
September 2021
After a month full of exams I've achieved the Italian certification for teaching in Middle and High School (the so called Percorso Formativo 24 CFU).
May 2021
Our new lab project BioVRPi has been presented to Margins and forgotten places, doctoral conferences of the University of Verona
October 2020
Officially enrolled in the PhD program in Applied Life and Health Sciences at the University of Verona, supervised by Prof. Malerba