Bio
Dr. Poliseno graduated in Biological Sciences in 2000 and got her PhD in Molecular Biotechnology in 2004, both at University of Pisa, Italy. In 2006, she moved to the US, where she became a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Pier Paolo Pandolfi, first at MSKCC in New York and then at BIDMC-HMS in Boston. In 2009, she started a second post-doc in the lab of Prof. Iman Osman at NYU. In 2012, she was appointed as Principal Investigator of the Oncogenomics Unit of ITT (now ISPRO) and in 2016 she became Staff Scientist at the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the National Research Council in Pisa, Italy, where her lab is located. Throughout her scientific career, her research interests have mostly revolved around non-coding RNAs (microRNAs, pseudogenes, ceRNAs) in cancer. Currently, the activities of the Poliseno lab are focused on the study of the coding and non-coding regulatory networks that revolve around BRAFV600E isoforms in melanoma. To this end, they use a wide range of techniques, both in vitro (yeast, melanoma cell lines) and in vivo (melanoma modeling in zebrafish and in the mouse). They are also developing strategies for the selective delivery of drug combinations inside cancer cells, exploiting the attenuated bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.

Bio
Leonardo (Lenny) Salmena is a cancer biologist investigating the role of phosphoinositide signalling perturbations, deregulated microRNAs and other non-coding RNAs in the etiology and treatment of cancers, with a focus on acute myeloid leukemia. Currently, Lenny is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Signal Transduction and Gene Regulation in Cancer. Lenny completed his Hon. BSc and M.Sc. in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto before completing his Ph.D. in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Lenny’s post-doctoral training in Cancer Biology and Genetics was split between Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center aand the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center at Harvard Medical Schoolfrom 2007 to 2012. Since his return to Toronto in 2014, the Salmena Lab has been home to over 30 undergraduate trainees, 20 graduate trainees and 3 postdocs participating in a number of exciting projects in cancer biology.