Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA;

Dept of Translational Medicine, Universita' degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale "Amedeo Avogadro", Novara, Italy;I am currently an Associate Professor in Molecular Biology at the Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy. During my scientific career, I investigated tumor progression, focusing on the study of miRNAs involved in melanoma and breast cancer tumor dissemination. On this topic we published various papers showing the relevant roles of miR-214 and miR-148b in melanoma metastasis formation via the regulation of a specific pathway. I generated mouse models for the overexpression of miR-214 in vivo to investigate the therapeutic potential of miR-214. I worked on the development of anti-/pre-miRNA based therapeutic approaches to block and control tumor progression in a specific way targeting tumor cells only by using chimeric aptamers. More recently, I started a new project to highlight the molecular basis of early-onset breast cancer with the final aim to find potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers to improve the management of young breast cancer patients.