Biologist

Health researcher

October 2014: Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at the University of Catania (final grade: 102/110)

• Dal 18/09/2023 in corso: Ricercatore sanitario presso Laboratorio di Oncologia Sperimentale
• From 01/11/2022 to present: PhD student at the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, Rizzoli Orthopedics Institute (Bologna); PhD programme in Oncology, Hematology and Pathology, XXXVII cycle, University of Bologna. Project: “The role of PARP inhibitors in the cross-talk between DNA damage and activation of the cGAS/STING immune response signaling pathways in Ewing sarcoma cells”.
• From 11/05/2020 to present: 15 octies at the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Laboratorio di Oncologia Sperimentale. Project: “Efficacy assessment of new targeted combination therapies for muscoloskeletal sarcomas as the basis for tailoring patient’s treatments”.
• From 2018 to 2020 fellowship at the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Laboratorio di Oncologia Sperimentale. Project: “ITCCP4-Paediatric Preclinical Proof of Concept Platform- IMI2”.
• Internal student at the Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Medical Biochemistry Section, University of Catania. Project: “Second generation sequencing with <Ion Torrent> technology using PCR-Multiplex Custom panel on MSI colon rectal cancer samples”.
• Internal student at the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, section of Animal Biology, University of Catania. Project: “Toxicity test in Paracentrotus lividus: evaluation of the effects of some endocrine interferents”.  

Italian: mother tongue
English: level C1, Ielts Certification (2017)

• CIC-Rearranged Sarcomas: An Intriguing Entity That May Lead the Way to the Comprehension of More Common Cancers. – 2022 Mancarella C, Carrabotta M, Toracchio L, Scotlandi K. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Nov 2;14(21):5411. doi: 10.3390/ cancers14215411. PMID: 36358827. 
• Integrated Molecular Characterization of Patient-Derived Models Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Treating CIC-DUX4 Sarcoma – 2022 Carrabotta M, Laginestra MA, Durante G, Mancarella C, Landuzzi L, Parra A, Ruzzi F, Toracchio L, De Feo A, Giusti V, Pasello M, Righi A, Lollini PL, Palmerini E, Donati DM, Manara MC, Scotlandi K. Cancer Res. 2022 Feb 15;82(4):708-720. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1222. PMID: 34903601 
• ROCK2 deprivation leads to the inhibition of tumor growth and metastatic potential in osteosarcoma cells through the modulation of YAP activity. – 2019 Zucchini C, Manara MC, Cristalli C, et al. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2019;38(1):503. Published 2019 Dec 26. doi: 10.1186/s13046-019-1506-3 
• Bone sarcoma patient-derived xenografts are faithful and stable preclinical models for molecular and therapeutic investigations. – 2019 Nanni P, Landuzzi L, Manara MC, et al. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):12174. Published 2019 Aug 21. doi:10.1038/ s41598-019-48634-y

Obtaining primary cultures from patient-derived xenografts (PDX) obtained as a result of biopsy material from pediatric osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma tumors, and characterization of PDX models from a genetic and biological point of view.