Who We Are

We are a heterogenous group of people who love science, nature and good food! We believe that science is for everyone. We encourage diversity and welcoming to everyone.  All members are respected and are expected to contribute to a positive and uplifting training environment.  We work hard and have fun.

We believe that Science is for Everyone!

My name is Irene (from Greek peace).

Throughout my career I have studied mechanisms of trascriptional regulation wandering in several different life-science fields. I was initially trained in developmental biology at the Stazione zoologica Anton Dohrn (Naples), where I pioneered techniques for linear amplification of full-length RNA for transcription profiling of embryonic precursors (10-30 cells) obtained from various mouse models (2001-2004) (Fagman et al., Dev Biol 2011). For my PhD, I approached the fields of synthetic and system biology at the Telethon institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM, Naples) by building one of the first synthetic networks in eukaryotes (IRMA). IRMA was used for benchmarking computational tools that can reconstruct gene networks from expression data and predict the Network behaviour in untested conditions (Cantone et al., Cell 2009). The regulation of gene networks driving complex cell behaviour and fates spurred my interest in epigenetics. In 2009, I was awarded HFSP, EMBO and Marie-Curie long-term fellowships to move at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (now MRC London institute of Medical Sciences) and investigate epigenetic reprogramming. There, I used X chromosome inactivation as an epigenetic exemplar to dissect the mechanisms underlying human pluripotent cell reprogramming (Cantone et al., Nature Communications 2016; Cantone et al., Genome Biology 2017, corresponding author).

I have an unconventional career path and due to life circumstances and long-term illness, I interrupted lab research from Sept 2016 until Sept 2019.

Since 2019, I am the head of this group of very diverse people at the University of Naples Federico II.

My name is Alessandra and I am a PhD student at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, at the “Federico II” University of Naples. Since childhood I have always been passionate about reading, art, and science, from mathematics to astrophysics, but my heart has been captured by biotechnology and research and I finally enrolled in Medical Biotechnology degree (BSc and MSc).

I did my internship and my degree project in medical biotechnology at Telethon institute of genetics and medicine (TIGEM), studying mitochondrial diseases. After a year of post-graduate internship at TIGEM, I started my PhD in Cantone lab. Here, I investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the reactivation of genes along the inactive X Chromosome across the somatic cell cycle and in reprogramming. In the lab since May 2021 (start after COVID-19 break)

Alumni. Antonella Napolitano (rotating PhD student 2023-2024), Martina Addeo (Postdoc 2022-2023), Antonella Di Loreto (MSc 2021+2023 - now PhD candidate admitted @ETH Zurich), Vincenzo Di Marino (BSc - now MSc trainee in Matarese lab), Ilaria Montesano (BSc, now MSc somewhere in the north of Italy).