Phd in MOLECULAR MEDICINE

email: veronica.veschi@uniroma1.it
phone: 3283230390

SHORT CURRICULUM VITAE

PRESENT POSITION:
Associate Professor, General Pathology, MED/04

DEPT. OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE

EDUCATION AND CAREER
2023-present: Associate Professor, SSD MED/04 – General Pathology, Dept. of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza”.
2023 June - December: Researcher at the IFO, Regina Elena National Cancer Institute and San Gallicano Dermatological Institute, Rome.
2023 April - May: Researcher at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome.
2020-2023: RTDA Researcher, Type A fixed-term Researcher, SSD MED/46, PON AIM line 1, co-financed by the European Social Fund, at the University of Palermo.
2017-2019: PostDoctoral Fellow at the University of Palermo, in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Oncology directed by Prof. Giorgio Stassi.
2016-2018: NIH Special Volunteer, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA
2013-2016: Visiting Fellow (Pre and Post-doctoral) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, USA, in the Cellular and Molecular Biology section of the National Cancer Institute (NCI),
directed by Dr. Carol J. Thiele.
2014: PhD in Molecular Medicine, La Sapienza University, Rome.
2011 August-October: Research Fellow, La Sapienza University, Rome.
2011: Specialty in Oncology cum laude, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of La Sapienza, Rome.
2006: Degree in Medicine and Surgery cum laude, La Sapienza University, Rome.


MOST RELEVANT RESEARCH LINES
1. Identification of the epigenetic regulators with a key role in Neuroblastoma and colorectal cancer tumorigenesis, with particular focus on SETD8 and its histone/non-histone targets; screening of chemical libraries including small molecules and compounds inhibiting epigenetic regulators.
2. Isolation and Characterization of Cancer stem cells (CSC) subpopulation in several tumors, including Colorectal cancer, Thyroid carcinomas, Breast cancer and Glioblastoma, identifying the main properties of CSCs endowed with metastatic potential.
3. Study of the post-translational mechanisms of p53 regulation and its functional inactivation in cancer stem cells and tumor-associated macrophages during tumor initiation and progression.
4. Development of effective therapeutic strategies targeting cancer stem cells (CSCs) and their microenvironment in colorectal cancer (CRC).
5. Development of 3D-models recapitulating follicular cell-derived thyroid cancer histotypes by using human embryonic stem cells and CRISPR-Cas9 technologies; identification of molecular mechanisms underlying thyroid cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis.


COLLABORATIONS
Dr. Carol Thiele, Deputy Director, Center for Cancer Research, Deputy Chief, Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, USA.
Dr. Ettore Appella, Director of Chemical Immunological Section, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, USA.
Prof. Giorgio Stassi, Group Leader of Molecular Oncology Laboratory, Director of the Department of Precision Medicine in Medical, Surgical and Critical Care, University of Palermo, Italy.


FIVE SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
1.Recapitulating thyroid cancer histotypes through engineering embryonic stem cells.
Veschi V , Turdo A., Modica C., Verona F., Di Franco S., Gaggianesi M., Tirro’ E., Di Bella S., Lo Iacono M., Pantina V.D., Porcelli G., Mangiapane L. R., Bianca P., Rizzo A., Sciacca E., Pillitteri I., Vella V., Belfiore A.,Bongiorno M.R.,Pistone G., Memeo L., Colarossi L., Giuffrida D., Colarossi C., Vigneri P., Todaro M., and Stassi G.
Nature Communications 2023 Mar 11;14(1):1351. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36922-1. PMID: 36906579.

2. PI3K-driven HER2 expression is a potential therapeutic target in colorectal cancer stem cells.
Mangiapane LR, Nicotra A, Turdo A, Gaggianesi M, Bianca P, Di Franco S, Sardina DS, Veschi V, Signore M, Beyes S, Fagnocchi L, Fiori ME, Bongiorno MR, Lo Iacono M, Pillitteri I, Ganduscio G, Gulotta G, Medema JP, Zippo A, Todaro M, De Maria R, Stassi G.
Gut. 2022 Jan;71(1):119-128. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323553. Epub 2021 Jan 12. PMID: 33436496.

3.Targeting chemoresistant colorectal cancer via systemic administration of a BMP7 variant.
Veschi V, Mangiapane LR, Nicotra A, Di Franco S, Scavo E, Apuzzo T, Sardina DS, Fiori M, Benfante A, Colorito ML, Cocorullo G, Giuliante F, Cipolla C, Pistone G, Bongiorno MR, Rizzo A, Tate CM, Wu X, Rowlinson S, Stancato LF, Todaro M, De Maria R, Stassi G.
Oncogene. 2020 Jan;39(5):987-1003. doi: 10.1038/s41388-019-1047-4. Epub 2019 Oct 7. PMID:31591478.

4. CRISPR-Cas9 screen reveals a MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma dependency on EZH2.
Chen L, Alexe G, Dharia NV, Ross L, Iniguez AB, Conway AS, Wang EJ, Veschi V, Lam N, Qi J, Gustafson WC, Nasholm N, Vazquez F, Weir BA, Cowley GS, Ali LD, Pantel S, Jiang G, Harrington WF, Lee Y, Goodale A, Lubonja R, Krill-Burger JM, Meyers RM, Tsherniak A, Root DE, Bradner JE, Golub TR, Roberts CW, Hahn WC, Weiss WA, Thiele CJ, Stegmaier K.
J Clin Invest. 2018 Jan 2;128(1):446-462. doi: 10.1172/JCI90793. Epub 2017 Dec 4. PMID:29202477.

3. Epigenetic siRNA and Chemical Screens Identify SETD8 Inhibition as a Therapeutic Strategy for p53 Activation in High-Risk Neuroblastoma.
Veschi V, Liu Z, Voss TC, Ozbun L, Gryder B, Yan C, Hu Y, Ma A, Jin J, Mazur SJ, Lam N, Souza BK, Giannini G, Hager GL, Arrowsmith CH, Khan J, Appella E, Thiele CJ.
Cancer Cell. 2017 Jan 9;31(1):50-63. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2016.12.002. PMID:28073004.