Phd in IINNOVATION IN IMMUNO-MEDIATED AND HEMATOLOGICAL DISORDERS

email: alessandra.zingoni@uniroma1.it
phone: 0649255128

General information
Full Name: Alessandra Zingoni
Date of Birth: March, 23 1968
Citizenship: Italian
Position: Associate Professor in Biotechnology and Methods in Laboratory Medicine (SSD MED/46)
Institution: “Sapienza” University of Rome
E-mail: alessandra.zingoni@uniroma1.it

Education
1991, Master degree in Biology, with honors, University of Rome “Sapienza”.
2001, PhD in Immunology, University of Rome “Sapienza”.
Academic appointments
2010-to date, Member of the teaching body for the evaluation of PhD students (PhD school in Immunological, Hematological and Rheumatological Sciences.
2007-to date, Teaching “Immunology and Immunopathology”, “Laboratory Medicine”, in different courses (School of Medicine, Degree in Biomedical Technician, Degree in Registered Nurse,) at the Faculty of Medicine, “Sapienza” University of Rome.
2007-to date, Tutor of several master degree thesis and five PhD thesis.
2019, National Scientific Habilitation as Full Professor in General Pathology (SSD MED/04).
2020, National Scientific Habilitation as Full Professor in Biotechnology and Methods in Laboratory Medicine (SSD MED/46).

Other Appointments (in Italy and Abroad)
2003-to date Research fellow (2003-2006), Assistant Professor (2007-2014), Associate Professor (2015-present) at the department of Molecular Medicine, Laboratory of Immunology and Immunopathology.
2000-2002 Research fellow at the Microbiology and Immunology Department, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF, CA, USA).
1998-2000 Research fellow at the Department of Experimental Medicine, “Sapienza” University of Rome.
1995-1998 Research fellow, “Regina Elena Cancer Institute”, Rome, Italy.
1991-1995 Research fellow, ENEA Research Center, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Rome, Italy.

Awards and Honours
1996-1998, Fellow of the Italian Association of Cancer Research (AIRC).
2000-2002, Fellow of the American Italian Cancer Foundation (AICF).
2011, “Sapienza Ricerca” Award, (selection of research of excellence by an international scientific committee); research title: “Killer and beyond:NK–cell–mediated control of adaptive immune response”, 2011.

Society memberships,
2005-to date, Member of the Italian Society of Immunology, Clinical Immunology and allergology (SIICA)

Editorial activity
Associate Editor of Frontiers in Immunology section NK and Innate Lymphoid Cell Biology, 2020-to date.
Guest Editor of the special Issue: "Type I Interferons: A Double-Edged Sword of Immune Regulation and Cancer Progression” on the peer-reviewed Journal Biology, 2021.
Guest Editor of the special issue:”Extracellular Vesicles as Messengers of Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns in the Pathogenesis of Immune-Mediated Disorders and Cancer” on Frontiers in Immunology, 2021.
She acts as a Reviewer for numerous international journals.

Funding (last ten years)
2009-2013: MIUR- GR-2007-683938-“The role of the lymphatic system in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis: a novel therapeutic target". (PI)
2011-2015: PON01802- ”Sviluppo di molecole capaci di modulare vie metaboliche intracellulari redox-sensibili per la prevenzione e cura di patologie infettive, tumorali e loro delivery attraverso piattaforme nanotecnologiche”. (I)
2014-2017: AIRC-"Role of BM Microenvironment in shaping NK cell maturation and effector functions in Multiple Myeloma". (I)
2014-2019: MEDINTECH/CTN01_00177_962865. “Tecnologie convergenti per aumentare la sicurezza e l'efficacia di farmaci e vaccini". (I)
2017: MIUR/PRIN-"Cell plasticity of tumor-associated immune infiltrate: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic options". (I)
2018-2020: Regione Lazio (n. 05080901002)-“Caratterizzazione del profilo molecolare degli esosomi circolanti in pazienti con infezione cronica da HCV dopo terapia con antivirali diretti (DAA): identificazione di marcatori di patogenesi epatica per nuove strategie terapeutiche”. (Co-PI)
2018-2021: Università-RM1181642771A58E “Immunochemotherapy and cancer-derived exosomes: interplay between damage associated patterns and Natural Killer cells” (PI)
2019-2023: Università- RG11916B7F06EC21 “Strengthening the cGAS/STING pathway to promote Natural Killer cell-mediated clearance of multiple Myeloma cells”. (PI)
2018-2022: PON ARS01_00906-"TITAN - Nanotecnologie per l'immunoterapia dei tumori". (I)
2021-2023: Regione Lazio, (n.A0375-2020-36604)-”Sviluppo di Lab-on-chip con nanoparticelle lipidiche per la quantificazione della carica virale di Sars-CoV-2 da tampone nasale (Sars-on-chip)”.(Co-PI)
2022-2024: Università - RG12218166D295B0 – “Exploiting type I interferons-induced pathway to revert the immunosuppressive environment of multiple myeloma and boost Natural Killer cell-mediated immunosurveillance”. (PI)


Biographical sketch
In the last 10 years, Alessandra Zingoni’s research activity has been mainly focused on tumor immunology and pointed to understand the complex interactions between immune NK cells and Multiple Myeloma cancer cells in order to design more tailored and effective immunotherapies and these studies have been mostly performed using ex vivo multiple myeloma patient’s samples. In particular She has been studying the mechanisms responsible of anti-tumor NK cell activity in response to chemotherapy. Furthermore, She is currently investigating the immunomodulatory action of multiple myeloma-derived exosomes and their potential role as biomarkers associated to multiple myeloma progression. She is collaborating with several groups in order to study the immunoregulatory role of exosome and microvesicles in different pathological conditions including autoimmunity, infections and allergic reactions. She is also studying the role of artificial liposome nanoparticle as vectors to deliver DNA/RNA or drugs in cancer patients and their impact on immune cells.
Some of the activities were done in collaboration with many groups in Italy and abroad: M.T. Petrucci ( University of Rome “Sapienza”), G. Caracciolo (University of Rome “Sapienza”,); L. Masuelli (University of Rome “Sapienza”); D.Fuerst (University of Ulm, Germany); A. Ludwig (University of Ulm, Germany); L.L. Lanier (University of San Francisco, CA); M.Tripodi (University of Rome, Sapienza); J.Hiscott (Pasteur Institute Italia-Cenci Bolognetti Foundation); M. Ardolino (University of Ottawa, Canada); A. Achour (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden).
Alessandra Zingoni is coauthor of 74 publications in peer reviewed papers.
H index (Scopus): 34 - H index (Google Scholar): 37
Total citations (Scopus): 3864
ORCID: 0000-0003-0906-1566
SCOPUS ID: 700527219


Selected Publications
1. Vulpis E, Loconte L, Peri A, Molfetta R, Caracciolo G, Masuelli L, Tomaipitinca L, Peruzzi G, Petillo S, Petrucci MT, Fazio F., Simonelli L, Fionda C, Soriani A, Cerboni C, Cippitelli M, Paolini R, Bernardini G, Palmieri G, Santoni A, Zingoni A. Impact on NK cell functions of acute versus chronic exposure to extracellular vesicle-associated MICA: Dual role in cancer immunosurveillance. J Extracell Vesicles. 2022. e12176. doi: 10.1002/jev2.12176. IF: 25.8
2. Zingoni A., Banales J. PIGR-enriched circulating vesicles contributes to hepatocellular carcinoma aggressiveness. J Hepatology. 2022. 10.1016/j.jhep.2022.02.001. IF: 25.083
3. Hasim MS, Marotel M, Hodgins JJ, Vulpis E, Makinson OJ, Asif S, Shih HY, Scheer AK, MacMillan O, Alonso FG, Burke KP, Cook DP, Li R, Petrucci MT, Santoni A, Fallon PG, Sharpe AH, Sciumè G, Veillette A, Zingoni A, Gray DA, McCurdy A, Ardolino M. IF:14.186When killers become thieves: Trogocytosed PD-1 inhibits NK cells in cancer. Science Advance. 2022; 8(15):eabj3286. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abj3286.
4. Giulimondi F, Vulpis E, Digiacomo L, Giuli MV, Mancusi A, Capriotti AL, Laganà A, Cerrato A, Zenezini Chiozzi R, Nicoletti C, Amenitsch H, Cardarelli F, Masuelli L, Bei R, Screpanti I, Pozzi D, Zingoni A, Checquolo S, Caracciolo G. Opsonin-Deficient Nucleoproteic Corona Endows UnPEGylated Liposomes with Stealth Properties In Vivo. ACS Nano. 2022.16(2):2088-2100. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.1c07687. IF:15.
5. Soriani A., Vulpis E., Cuollo L., Santoni A., Zingoni A. Cancer extracellular vesicles as novel regulators of NK cell response. Cytokine Growth factor Review , 2020. 51:19-26. IF: 7.618
6. Giulimondi F. Digiacomo L., Pozzi D., Palchetti S., Vulpis E., Capriotti A.L., Zenezini Chiozzi R., Laganà A., Amenitsh H., Masuelli L., Peruzzi G., Mahmoudi M., Screpanti I., Zingoni A., Caracciolo G. Interplay of protein corona and immune cells controls blood residency of liposomes. Nature Communication, 2019. 10:3786. IF: 14.9.
7. Vulpis E, Stabile H, Soriani A, Fionda C, Petrucci MT, Mariggio' E, Ricciardi MR, Cippitelli M, Gismondi A, Santoni A, Zingoni A. Key Role of the CD56lowCD16low Natural Killer Cell Subset in the Recognition and Killing of Multiple Myeloma Cells. Cancers (Basel). 2018 Nov 29;10(12). pii: E473. doi: 10.3390/cancers10120473. I.F: 6.162
8. Zingoni A., Vulpis E., Cecere F, Amendola M.G., Fuerst D., Saribekyan T., Achour A., Sandalova T., Nardone I., Peri A, Soriani A., Fionda C., Mariggio’ E., Petrucci M.T., Ricciardi M.R., Mytilineos J., Cippitelli M., Cerboni C., Santoni A. MICA-129 dimorphism and soluble MICA are associated with the progression of Multiple Myeloma. Front. Immunol. 2018; DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00926. I.F: 6.429
9. Vulpis E, Cecere F, Molfetta R, Soriani A, Fionda C, Peruzzi G, Caracciolo G, Palchetti S, Masuelli L, Simonelli L, D’Oro U, Abruzzese MP, Petrucci MT, Ricciardi MR, Paolini R, Cippitelli M, Santoni A, Zingoni A. Genotoxic stress modulates the release of exosomes from multiple myeloma cells capable of activating NK cell cytokine production: role of HSP70/TLR2/NF-kB axis. Oncoimmunology. 2017; DOI: 10.1080/2162402X.2017.127937. IF:8.110
10. Zingoni A, Cecere F, Vulpis E, Fionda C, Molfetta R, Soriani A, Petrucci MT, Ricciardi MR, Fuerst D, Amendola MG, Mytilineos J, Cerboni C, Paolini R, Cippitelli M, Santoni A. Genotoxic Stress Induces Senescence-Associated ADAM10-Dependent Release of NKG2D MIC Ligands in Multiple Myeloma Cells. J Immunol. 2015; 195:736-48. I.F:5.422.


Roma, February 3rd 2023

Alessandra Zingoni