EXPERIMENTAL MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY LABORATORY 

Principal Investigator

Staff

Research topic

The main focus of the laboratory is the Molecular Profiling of tumoral lesions across tissue samples, with a specific interest in breast cancer (including tumors, pre-invasive lesions and normal counterparts), with the final aim to design and select effective therapies and curtail treatment resistance.

Background

Heterogeneity of carcinomas is a well-known phenomenon, already appreciable by pathologists on morphological grounds and by profiling tumours with a handful of immunohistochemical markers commonly used in clinical practice. Moreover, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) studies based on next generation sequencing analyses have recently provided evidence of high genetic heterogeneity even between cancers of the same type. As a further level of complexity, the tumour microenvironment also contributes to intratumour heterogeneity and several studies have demonstrated the prognostic stratification value offered by the information stemming from the microenvironment, such as the simple count of tumor infiltrating mononuclear cells. Intra- and inter-tumour heterogeneity hampers the ability to design and select effective therapies and curtail treatment resistance, which is the goal of precision medicine.

Research achievements

Since 2018 the laboratory has optimized and incorporated several cutting-edge techniques in the portfolio of projects currently running mainly on breast, colorectal and gynaecological cancers. Several external and internal collaborations have been set up with the intent to join forces on common objectives. The Laboratory also actively collaborates with the FPO facilities, in particular the sequencing and single cell facilities. 

Conclusions and perspectives

The overall clinical-translational goal of the laboratory is to identify novel diagnostic, prognostic and predictive stratification methods for patients, in particular for breast cancer patients. The analytical complexity of the activities of the lab is recently embracing not only tissue but also liquid biopsies to pinpoint tumor lesions from different angles in a multifaceted fashion.

Publications

At this link, you can find all the scientific publications of the Principal Investigator.