Staff di Ricerca

Stefania Croci, PhD, Senior Scientist

I was born in Reggio Emilia on 27th january 1976. I graduated in Medical Biotechnology at the University of Bologna in 2000 with a thesis on the blocked differentiation of human rhabdomyosarcoma, supervised by Prof Pier-Luigi Lollini.
 
From 2000 to 2012, I was trained in an academic environment: the Laboratory of Immunology and Biology of Metastases, Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Bologna, headed by Prof Pier-Luigi Lollini, Patrizia Nanni and Carla De Giovanni. At that time, I developed a strong interest in the modulation of the immune system for cancer prevention and therapy. I obtained a PhD in Oncology in 2004 with a thesis on cancer immunoprevention in multigenic mouse models. I acquired expertise in vaccines for breast cancer, in the metastatic potential of cancer cells and in profiling molecular mechanisms driving cancer onset and progression.
 
I spent 6 months at Martin Luther University, Halle (Saale), Germany in the Laboratory directed by Prof. Barbara Seliger, partly supported by a travel fellowship from the European Association for Cancer Research, to learn proteomics and immunoproteomics.
 
In May 2012, I joined the Laboratory of “Autoimmunità Allergologia e Biotecnologie Innovative” at the Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale-IRCCS, Reggio Emilia where I started to work on immune-mediated diseases in close collaboration with the Unit of Rheumatology directed by Prof Carlo Salvarani.
 
Since 2015 I have had the assignment to  coordinate the research activities of the Laboratory, focused on giant cell arteritis (GCA), Takayasu arteritis, Behcet's disease, ANCA-associated vasculitis, myositis and non-infectious uveitis. I characterize leukocyte phenotypes, investigate the expression of microRNAs, mRNAs, cytokines in biological samples from patients and perform cell-based assays. Researches aim to identify predictors of response to therapies, biomarkers associated with disease activity, diagnostic biomarkers and alterations driving inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Moreover I am actively involved in the evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of new products in vitro (e.g. mesenchymal stem cells and tuftsin phosphorylcholine). Finally I am collaborating with the Laboratory of Radiopharmacy to develop new radiolabeled probes (e.g. anti-microRNAs and anti-CCK2R) for imaging cancer and inflammatory processes.

 
Email: stefania.croci@ausl.re.it
Scopus Author ID: 7003450132

Link to Biblioteca AUSL-IRCCS per pubblicazioni

Martina Bonacini, PhD, Post-doctoral fellow

I was born in Reggio Emilia (RE) on 27th january 1987. I graduated in Molecular Biology at the University of Parma in 2011. In 2016, I obtained PhD in Pathology and Molecular Biology at the University of Parma with a thesis entitled "Role of Clusterin in Prostate Cancer progression".

During my PhD I studied of the epigenetic mechanism of transcriptional regulation and characterization of Clusterin, a chaperone involved in prostate cancer in relation to NF-kB pathway. Since 2016, I am a post-doctoral fellow at the Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia in the Unit of Clinical Immunology, Allergy and Advanced Biotechnologies.

Currently, my research activity is focused on autoimmune diseases, in particular on Giant Cell Arteritis and Behçet disease. I study new drugs targeting specific small molecules called miRNAs for the therapy of Giant Cell Arteritis. I am involved in the analysis of the transcriptome of temporal artery biopsies from patients with Giant Cell Arteritis to identify predictors of response to glucocorticoids.

Moreover, I work on the lymphocytes characterization and on the determination of cytokines/chemokines in plasma and acqueous humor of Behçet disease patients with the aim to identify diagnostic biomarkers and biomarkers associated with disease activity.

Email: martina.bonacini@ausl.re.it
Scopus Author ID: 56115248000