SIMONA GIUNTA, Ph.D.
Rita Levi Montalcini Associate Professor & Head of Laboratory of Genome Evolution
PROFESSIONAL STATEMENT
Having worked in some of the world s most renowned research environments across three continents, I have
established a unique research niche focused on human centromere maintenance, building on my long-standing
interest and expertise in genome stability and repetitive DNA. Innovation is a strong part of my modus operandi
in my multidisciplinary group bringing together cutting-edge technologies, experimental approaches and overall
strategies in the pursuit of a better understanding of centromere instability and its implications in human disease.
EDUCATION
2006-2011 Ph.D. in Cancer Research (Mentor: Prof. Steve P. Jackson)
Laboratory of DNA Damage Response, University of Cambridge, UK
2006 Diploma of Industrial Training in Developmental Biology
National Institute for Medical Research MRC, London, UK
2002-2006 B.Sc. (First Class Honors) in Cancer Biology Summa cum laude
Brunel University, London, UK
1997-2002 Diploma of Liceo Classico Sperimentale Brocca Final grade: 99/100
Liceo Statale Democrito, Rome, Italy
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
From 2023 Associate Professor; Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
This Professorship represents a lifetime, tenured position in Italy, that comprises mentorship, teaching and
academic engagements in addition to my primary role as the Director of my research team of over 10 people.
From 2021 Head of Laboratory of Genome Evolution; Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
The Giunta Lab has launched comprehensive high-throughput studies of genome stability at DNA repeats in
the Department of Biology & Biotechnology Charles Darwin funded by an AIRC Start-Up grant.
2020-2023 Rita Levi Montalcini Assistant Professor; Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Tenure-track position awarded by the Italian Ministry of Education Bring back the Brains initiative.
2021 Visiting Faculty; The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
Continued access as Assistant Professor to Laboratory space, Facilities & Resources at Rockefeller University.
2016-2020 Research Associate; The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
Head of projects on aging and cancer-associated centromere instability using AID & imaging technologies.
2011-2016 Post-doctoral Fellow; The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
Leader of project on the design of innovative FISH techniques applied to super-resolution microscopy to study
stability and structure of human centromeres. Collaborator on ageing reversal screening in iPSC.
2011 Research Fellow; Nutrition and Health Research Clinic, CSIRO, Adelaide, Australia
Research Fellow with a Technology Transfect Fellowship from UICC to learn the CBMN, (aTL)qPCR and
other advanced assays and study the effects of resveratrol in protecting from oxidative damage.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Continued
2006-2011 Ph.D. Student in Cancer Research; University of Cambridge, UK
Principal researcher on the discovery of the human mitotic DNA damage response, published as first author in
2010 (over 300 citations) and 2011. Proteomics of Rad9 and GINS during replication in S. cerevisiae.
2006 Research Intern; Barts & The London Medical School, UK
Experimental thesis project on the role of the WNT pathway in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
2004-2005 Research Assistant; National Institute for Medical Research MRC, London, UK
Study of STAT-3 role in modulating the WNT pathway during cell migration in zebrafish embryogenesis.
2004 Summer Research Intern; ILL / ESRF / EMBL, Grenoble, France
Studying DNA conformations with X-rays and neutron diffractions by synchrotron and high-flux reactor.
TEACHING & MENTORING EXPERIENCE
From 2021 Supervisor and mentor of 4 BSc. Students; 2 MSc. Students; 3 Ph.D. students
Also co-tutor of 1 Ph.D. Student and 1 Master Student. Giunta Laboratory; Sapienza University of Rome.
From 2022 Professor of Cell Cycle Master of Science; Sapienza University of Rome
Shared course with Prof. Patrizia Somma for the MSc in Genetics & Molecular Biology.
From 2021 Professor of Genome Evolution Master of Science; Sapienza University of Rome
Head of a 12 credits course in Genome Evolution for the MSc in Genetics & Molecular Biology.
From 2021 Professor in Cytogenetics Bachelor of Science in Genetics; Sapienza University of Rome
Teaching practical classes in Molecular Cytogenetics for the BSc in Food & Industrial Biotech (B.A.I.)
2013-2019 Lecturer CUNY Brooklyn College, NY, USA
Teaching 4 graduate classes for the Cell Biology, Genetics and Molecular Biology Courses each semester.
Specific classes: Mutation and Cancer, DNA Damage Repair, Cell Cycle, Telomeres, Centromeres, Aging.
2017-2019 Chair & Science Advisor New Visions For Public Schools
STEM Curricula Development advisor to meet 2020 education goals for High School Science in NY State.
2018 Supervisor of Undergraduate Student Ms. Elizabeth M. Black
Rockefeller University Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, NY, USA
2014 Invited University Lecturer on Biochemistry and Metabolism of Cancer
Course: Biochemistry. BSc in Biological Sciences, CUNY Hunter College, NY, USA
2012 Supervisor of Undergraduate Student Ms. Jessica Kim
Rockefeller University Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, NY, USA
2010 Invited Post-graduate Lecturer on DNA Damage Repair during the Cell Cycle
Doctorate Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rome III, Italy
2009-2010 Supervisor and Laboratory Demonstrator Dept. Of Zoology, University di Cambridge, UK
Teaching Biochemistry, Cytogenetic, Physiology and Cell Biology classes with associated labs.
RESEARCH FUNDING
2022 ERC Starting Grant Award CENTROFUN Project (ERC, EU) 1,500,000.00 over 5 years.
2022 Co-PI, Interstellar Initiative Beyond - Collaboration with Germany/Italy/Japan, AMED, JP.
2022 Participant, Research Funding on Ancient DNA and Archeogenetic Analysis from the Copper Age
with Prof. Trombetta Progetti Medi Sapienza University of Rome
2021 PI, AIRC Start-up Grant #25189, AIRC (Italy) 1,000,000.00 over 5 years.
2020 Co-PI, Interstellar Early Career Investigator Award, New York Academy of Science & AMED.
2020 Participant, Scientific Instrumentation Funding RARITY: RAdiation and microgRavITY
machinery to study the effects of ionizing radiation under low gravity Medi Sapienza University.
2020 Participant, Research Funding Comparative analysis of stem cell compartments in mouse model
of physiologic and accelerated aging syndromes with I.Saggio Prog. Piccoli Sapienza University
2019 PI, SEAL of SapiExcellence, 1-year Research Funding awarded by Sapienza University, Italy.
2018 Fellow, MSCA Marie Curie Action Reintegration (fully funded) Fellowship, Horizon 2020
2018 Main scientist, NIH R01 Grant GM121062 Centromere Integrity. Impact F.: 20; 5th percentiles.
2013-2015 Collaborator, Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative from STARR Consortium #2013-049, USA.
2012-2014 Fellow, American Italian Cancer Foundation Fellowship, USA.
2012-2013 Fellow, Women & Science Initiative Fellowship, USA.
2011 Research Funding, ICRETT Technology Transfer Fellowship, UICC.
2006-2010 Ph.D. Full Fellowship, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK
2006-2010 Cooperative Award in Science and Engineering (CASE) Scholar. KuDOS/AstraZeneca, UK
2002-2006 Full Scholar, EU Excellence Academic Scholarship toward the University fee.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
2023 Scientific Commissioner by direct nomination of the Magnificent Rector for the Commissione
Istruttoria Dottorati di Ricerca Decreto n.135/2023 Prot.n. 0007189 Ph.D. Program Sapienza University of Rome
2022 Interstellar Early Career Investigator Beyond Initiative to our international team (Italy, Germany,
Japan) aiming to address colorectal tumor relapse by targeting quiescent stem cells.
2021 Interstellar Early Career Investigator Best Scientific Proposal to our international team (Italy,
Japan, Canada) aiming to correct genome instability using nanoparticle delivery system in atherosclerosis.
2019 Rita Levi Montalcini Assistant Professorship Award by the Italian Ministry of Education
2018 Rockefeller University Post-doctoral Association Career Development Award
2017 Seal of Excellence Horizon 2020 European Union MSCA 93% score.
2016 American Society For Cell Biology (ASCB) Travel Award
2016 Rockefeller University Post-doctoral Association Career Development Travel Award
2010 Graduate Student Award Runner-up. Dept. of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK
2009 First Prize Young Scientist Award for Best Talk. EU-IP DNA Repair Workshop, Sicily.
2006 Margaret Trier Memorial Prize. Awarded annually to a woman selected from all Brunel graduates
based on excellence in her final thesis and accomplishments throughout undergraduate career.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS Non exhaustive
2022 Invited Speaker; NYU Seminar at Langone Medical School Protecting our genome , NY, USA
2020 The Socially Distant Centromere Opening Meeting Online Conference series replacing GRC.
2019 Discussion leader Medical genomics: where are we at? , ASCB/EMBO 2019 Washington D.C.
2019 Invited Speaker; NYU Chromatin Club, NY, USA
2018 Selected Speaker; Gordon Research Conference (GRC) Centromere Biology Vermont, USA
2018 Selected Speaker; Anderson Center for Cancer Research Retreat, NY, USA
2017 Invited Speaker; Genetic Society of America Repetitive DNA Symposium, NYU, NY, USA
2017 Selected Speaker; Gordon Research Conference (GRC) Chromosomes Dynamics Il Ciocco, Ita
2017 Selected Speaker; New York Academy of Science (NYAS) Genome Integrity DG , NY, USA
2016 Selected Partecipant; ASCB Conference & Doorstep Cancer Meeting; ASCB 2016, SF, USA
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS Non exhaustive. Continued
2015 Selected Partecipant; Genome Engineering GE 3.0 CRISPR Workshop, Broad, Boston
2013 Invited Speaker; Workshop SIMA Italian Society for Mutagenesis Chromosome Instability , Ita
2012 Invited Speaker; XII Convegno Federazione Italiana Scienza della Vita (FISV), Roma, Italy
2012 Selected Partecipant & Poster; EMBO Workshop Centromeres and Kinetochores ; Barcelona
2010 Selected Poster; Maintenance of Genome Stability International Abcam Conference; Antigua
2009 Selected Speaker & Poster; 3
rd EU-IP DNA Repair Workshop for Young Scientists, Taormina, Ita
2008 Selected Speaker; 2
nd EU-IP DNA Repair Workshop for Young Scientists, Porto, Portugal
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Life member of St John s College, University of Cambridge; American (ASCB) and British (BSCB) Societies
for Cell Biology; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); New York Academy of
Sciences (NYAS); Genetic Society of America (GSA); International Union for Cancer (UICC); Italian
Association of Genetics (AGI); European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EEMGS); Italian
Federation for Life Sciences (FISV); Italian Society of Environmental and Genomic Mutagenesis (SIMAG).
EDITORIAL & MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE
Reviewer for PNAS; Scientific Reports; Ecotoxicology & ES; Elsevier, Wiley, MDPI Journals, etc.
Grant reviewer for the Italian Ministry for University and Research (MUR), Progetti di Rilevante Interesse
Nazionale (PRIN), Agence Nationale De La Recherche (France) and other International Grant agencies.
2022 Invited Editor for Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology (Elsevier) Maintenance of Satellite
DNA Stability Special Issue (ISSN: 1084-9521).
2021 Co-Founder with Dr. Santaguida of the Genome Integrity Italian Network (GiiN), Italy.
2020 Guest Editor for Genes Special Issue: Centromeres in Genome Stability (ISSN: 2073-4425).
2019 Editor for Cancer Research Frontiers, open access peer-reviewed journal (ISSN: 2328-5249).
2013-2019 Founding President of Know Science, Inc. a non-profit organization for science literacy.
2012-2019 Director and Scientific Editor. The Rockefeller University Science Communication Group.
2012-2014 Scientific Consultant. GE Healthcare, MackSense and other market research agencies.
2007-2010 Founder and President. The St John s Women s Society, University of Cambridge, UK
2007-2009 Science Editor in Chief. The Cambridge Student newspaper (TCS; 10,000 copies weekly).
PUBLICATIONS
- Bosco N, Goldberg A, Zhao X, Mays JC, Cheng P, Johnson AF, BianchiJJ, ToscaniC, Di Tommaso E,
Katsnelson L, Annuar D, Mei S, Faitelson RE, Pesselev IY, Mohamed KS, Mermerian A, CamachoHernandez EM, Gionco CA, ManikasJ, Tseng YS, SunZ, Fani S, Keegan S, Lippman SM, Fenyö D, Giunta
S, Santaguida S and Davoli T. KaryoCreate: a new CRISPR-based technology to generate chromosomespecific aneuploidy by targeting human centromeres . Under revision.
- Di Tommaso E, De Turris V, Choppakatla P, Funabiki H, Giunta S
. Visualization of the threedimensional structure of the human centromere in mitotic chromosomes by super-resolution microscopy .
Under revision.
- Said M, Barra V, Balzano E, Talhaouni I, Pelliccia F, Giunta S, Naim V. 2022 FANCD2 promotes
mitotic rescue from transcription-mediated replication stress in SETX-deficient cancer cells . Commun
Biol. 21;5(1). doi: 10.1038/s.42003-022-04360.
- Balzano E, Di Tommaso E, Antoccia A, Pelliccia F
, Giunta S
. 2022 Characterization of Chromosomal
Instability in Glioblastoma . Frontiers in Genet. 12(1-12). doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.810793.
- Giunta S
. 2021 Decoding Human Cancer With Whole Genome Sequencing . Cancer Met Rev, 7:1-16
- Giunta S ,*, Herve S,* White R, Wilhelm T, Dumont M, Wong CK, Rancati G, Smogorzewska A, Funabiki
H
, Fachinetti D
. 2021 CENP-A preserves genome integrity during alpha-satellite DNA replication by
modulating R-loops at human centromeres . PNAS, 9;118(10):e2015634118
BioRvix doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.01.277103
Highlighted by The Company of Biologists Prelights.
- Balzano E, Pelliccia F, Giunta S
. 2021 Genome (in)stability at tandem repeats . Seminar in Cell &
Developmental Biology, S1084-6.
- Balzano E & Giunta S
. 2020 Centromeres under Pressure: Evolutionary Innovation in Conflict with
Conserved Function . Genes, 11(8):912.
- Leo L, Marchetti M, Giunta S, Fanti L. 2020 Epigenetics as an Evolutionary Tool for Centromere
Flexibility . Genes, 11(7):809.
- Burla R, La Torre M, Maccaroni K, Verni F, Giunta S, Saggio I. 2020 Nuclear envelope and chromatin
organization in physiology and pathology . Nucleus, 11(1):205-218.
- Maccaroni K, Balzano E, Mirimao F, Giunta S
, Pelliccia F
. 2020 Impaired replication timing promotes
tissue-specific expression of common fragile sites . Genes, 11, 326.
- Black EM & Giunta S
.2018 Repetitive Fragile Sites: Centromere Satellite DNA as a Source of Genome
Instability . Genes, 9, 615.
- Giunta S
. 2018 Centromere Chromosome Orientation Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (Cen-CO-FISH)
detects Sister Chromatids Exchange at Centromeres in Human Cells . Bio-protocol, 7(8), e2792.
- Jenness C, Giunta S, Muller MM, Kimura H, Muir TW, Funabiki H. 2018 HELLS and CDCA7 comprise a
bipartite nucleosome remodeling complex defective in ICF syndrome PNAS, 45, 201717509.
- Skamagki M, Correia C, Yeung P, Baslan T, Beck S, Zhang C, Ross CA, Dang L, Liu Z, Giunta S, et al.
2017 ZSCAN10 corrects the genomic instability of iPSC from aged donors , Nature Cell Biology 19(9),
1037-48.
- Giunta S & Funabiki H
. 2017 Integrity of the human centromere DNA repeats is protected by CENP-A
CENP-C and CENP-T . Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) 114(8), 1928-33
- Valdiglesias V*, Giunta S*, Neri M, Bonassi S. 2013 H2AX as a marker of DNA double strand breaks
and genomic instability in human population studies . Mutation Research 753(1), 24-40
- Giunta S & Jackson SP. 2011 Give me a break, but not in mitosis: The mitotic DNA damage response
marks DNA double strand breaks with early signaling events . Cell Cycle 10, 1215-21.
- Giunta S*, Belotserkovskaya R*, Jackson SP. 2010 DNA damage signalling in response to double strand
breaks during the cell cycle phase of mitosis . Journal of Cell Biology 190, 197-207.
Highlighted by Journal of Cell Biology and Nature Reviews Cancer.
- Giunta S. 2009 A gust of WNT: Analysis of the canonical WNT pathway . ACTA Biomed 81(3), 187-99
LEGEND: Corresponding author. * Equal contribution