Phd in LIFE SCIENCE

Research: Induction and Function of Interferon in Response to Monkeypox virus Infection

RESEARCH TITLE: Induction and Function of Interferon in Response to Monkeypox virus Infection
Thematic area: Virology
SSD: MED/07

EDUCATION
01/2022-10/2022: Postgraduate internship at Laboratory of Virology of Professor Carolina Scagnolari (Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza, Università di Roma).
20/01/2022: Master’s Degree in Medical Biotechnology, Sapienza Università di Roma (110/110 con Lode). Experimental thesis: Anticorpi leganti e neutralizzanti l’IFN di tipo I ed alterazione della risposta IFN mediata in pazienti ospedalizzati per COVID-19.
15/07/2019 Bachelor’s Degree in Biotechnology, Sapienza Università di Roma (109/110). Experimental thesis: Analisi dell’influenza dei singoli geni dell’operone SRRz/Rz1 nella produzione di OMV in E. Coli.

RESEARCH PROJECT
Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is a double-strand DNA virus belonging to the Poxviridae family and the Orthopoxvirus genus. Monkeypox is a zoonotic infection, and the first case of human infection was reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1971. In 2022, an unusual epidemic outbreak occurred in non-endemic countries and has generated a great concern. Despite cases of MPXV human infection occurring from many years, innate immunity against this virus has not been extensively characterize. The first line host defense against viral infection is the Interferon (IFN) system, an heterogeneous family of cytokines with antiviral, antiproliferative and immunomodulatory properties. There are three types of IFNs: type I IFNs are most represented by IFN-α and IFN-β; type II IFNs include only IFN-γ; type III IFNs, which include all the IFN-λ. As a fundamental component of the antiviral host response, the IFN system is strategically targeted by poxvirus and the majority of what is known about their immune escape mechanism emerges from studies performed with VACV and VARV. The main aim of my PhD thesis is to provide insight in the IFN response against MPXV infection:
-in vivo experiment of IFN-related genes expression analysis on biological samples from MPXV-infected patients;
-in vitro characterization of MPXV sensitivity to different types of IFNs using different cell line sensitive to MPXV infection (A549, Hela and Vero-E6) and study of the expression of IFN pathways after MPXV infection and treatment with different type of IFNs, in order to identify which IFN genes might be responsible for the differential antiviral potency of IFNs.

COURSES
Participation in Journal Clubs and seminars organized by the PhD school.
Participation in courses:
1. Introduction to Immunology (12h)
2. Preparing artworks for scientific papers (8h)

CONGRESS PARTICIPATION WITH ORAL PRESENTATION:
1. 51st SIM National Congress, Cagliari 24-27/09/2023 (Società Italiana di Microbiologia)
2. 22nd SIMIT National Congress, Pisa 03/12/2023 and Florence 04-06/12/2023 (Società Italiana di Malattie Infettive e Tropicali)

CONGRESS PARTICIPATION WITH POSTER PRESENTATION:
1. 31st International CROI Congress, Denver, Colorado 03-06/12/2023 (Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection)