The main aim of the PhD in "NETWORK ONCOLOGY AND PRECISION MEDICINE" is to train researchers with an innovative profile, able to carry out autonomous experimental and clinical research in the field of personalized medicine in oncology.
This will be achieved through the offer of a multidisciplinary theoretical-practical, experimental and clinical training course, which will allow PhD students to learn the most updated laboratory, computational, diagnostic and clinical studies methods and integrate them for the fulfilment of research projects aimed at classifying, diagnosing, planning treatments and identifying prevention plans in oncology.
The PhD program offers interdisciplinary training for graduates in medicine, biology and in the disciplines included in the scientific-technological area. PhD students will acquire expertise in biomedical research that involves the integration of pathological-molecular and clinical data of each patient through the Network Medicine approach applied to oncology.
The research projects developed during the PhD training course will be multidisciplinary in the field of neoplastic pathologies and will have to transform the therapeutic intervention from the Top Down approach (1 pathology-1 therapy) to the Bottom-up approach (1 patient-1 therapy) through the identification of the clinical and molecular peculiarities of each patient (personalized medicine) and of complex molecular targets (precision medicine).
In order to achieve these goals, the PhD school is composed by board of professors in which oncological skills in cellular and molecular biology, clinical diagnostics and therapy are represented, as well as skills related to statistics and electronic and computer bioengineering. The PhD professors collaborate with each other and with prestigious research centers of national and international institutions, integrating different skills in oncology and data processing. The PhD scientific board includes professors from the Department of Experimental Medicine that represents the Sapienza University in the European Consortium "LifeTime", established in 2018 by biomedical research Institutes and companies, with the primary aim of revolutionizing health care using cutting-edge technologies (https://lifetime-fetflagship.eu/). Moreover, the PhD scientific board includes founding members of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine (Fondazione per la Medicina Personalizzata, https://fondazionefmp.it/) whose aim is to identify the specific "identity" of each patient, leading to the best available treatment option.
The scientific collaboration with outstanding researchers and excellent institutions will lead to an international training and scientific production characterized by the integration of molecular and clinical data in the oncological field, a feature of the PhD program that will provide PhD students a multidisciplinary and international teaching with mobility periods.
The institutions involved in the PhD training program in addition to the Sapienza University of Rome are:
Italian Institutions: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome; Università di Napoli Federico II, Naples; Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù di Roma, Rome; Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna Policlinico S. Orsola – Malpighi, Bologna; Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS "Fondazione G. Pascale", Naples.
E.U. Institutions: Max Delbrück Center (MDC) Berlin - Germany; University of Liverpool - United Kingdom; Charité - University Medicine Berlin - Germany; German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University - Germany; Glycomic Centre, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen – Denmark; Institute of Molecular pathology and immunology of the University of Porto, Portugal; Department of Pharmacology and Personalised Medicine, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Science, Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Hospital Clínico University of Valencia-INCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute, Spain.
US: Weill Cornell Medical College New York, USA; Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard University, USA.
The scientific expertises of the PhD Board members fall within the following research subjects as coded by the Italian University Ministry:
Subject 05- Biological Sciences
SSD BIO/10 Biochemistry
SSD BIO/11 Molecular Biology
SSD BIO/14 Pharmacology
Subject 06 – Medical Sciences
SSD MED/01 Medical Statistics
SSD MED/04 General Pathology
SSD MED/05 Clinical Pathology
SSD MED/06 Oncology
SSD MED/08 Pathology
SSD MED/18 Surgery
SSD MED/46 Technical Sciences of Laboratory Medicine
SSD MED/50 Applied Medical Technical Sciences
SSD M-EDF/02 Methods and Teaching of Sports
Subject 09 – Industrial and information engineering
SSD ING-INF/05 Information processing systems
SSD ING-INF/06 Electronic and Computer Bioengineering
The members of the PhD scientific board (Italians and foreigners) will be responsible for the training, supervision of research activities and evaluation of PhD students.
The main training objectives that will be achieved over the three-year program are:
- Training with constant updating of the biomolecular fundamentals that determine the development and progression of oncological diseases with particular regard to cellular pathology, immunology and immunopathology, genetic and epigenetic pathology, microbiology with the study of cellular and molecular bases of microbial pathogenicity, microorganism-host interactions, microbial biotechnologies, laboratory technical sciences, innovative genetic engineering techniques, bio-crystallography, biochemical characterization methods of biological macromolecules using bioinformatics tools, diagnostic methodologies and the study of predictive biomarkers of clinical response, therapeutic strategies of neoplastic pathologies.
- Both theoretical and practical training on the biostatistical and informatics bases necessary for the elaboration and integration of molecular and clinical data of each cancer patient (network oncology).
- Design and development of research projects aimed at deepening the integrated molecular and clinical knowledge of neoplasms in order to evaluate personalized therapeutic approaches (personalized medicine) and develop modern therapeutic techniques with maximum specific efficacy and minimum side effects (precision medicine).
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR THE NEXT CYCLE
The courses and planned seminar activities are reported in detail and are updated on the PhD website.
In addition, further seminars and training activities provided by other Research Centers involved in the PhD will be open to all PhD students and will be listed on the PhD website (https://phd.uniroma1.it/web/NETWORK-ONCOLOGY-AND-PRECISION-MEDICINE_nD3663_EN.aspx).
PhD thesis selection process
The subject of the PhD thesis is proposed by the PhD student, approved by the scientific board and under the supervision of a tutor belonging to the scientific board of the PhD program.
Admission and verification process to the following years of the PhD program
At the end of each academic year (by October 30th) the PhD students will present a report on the progress/completion of their research project and the scientific board of the PhD program will verify and evaluate the results obtained.
Useful website link:
PhD "NETWORK ONCOLOGY AND PRECISION MEDICINE" website:
https://phd.uniroma1.it/web/NETWORK-ONCOLOGY-AND-PRECISION-MEDICINE_nD3663_EN.aspx
Website of SCIENTIFIC BOARD of the PhD program in Network Oncology and Precision Medicine:
https://phd.uniroma1.it/web/SCIENTIFIC-BOARD-NETWORK-ONCOLOGY-AND-PRECISION-MEDICINE_nB3663_EN.aspx
“Sapienza” PhD program website:
https://www.uniroma1.it/en/pagina/phd-programmes
“Sapienza” PhD program list website:
https://www.uniroma1.it/en/pagina/list-phd-programmes
News