DOCTORAL
CANDIDATES
Background
I am a PhD candidate under the guidance of Prof. Andreas Ladurner at Eisbach Bio GmbH in Munich. I trained in Biotechnology at the University of Ferrara and later completed my Master’s degree in Molecular and Medical Biotechnology at the University of Verona, supported by a Dompé Foundation Scholarship and graduating with highest honors. During my studies, I became interested in how cancer cells cope with the stress generated by oncogenic programs and how these survival strategies might be therapeutically targeted.
For my Master’s thesis, I joined the laboratory of Olle Sangfelt at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, where I investigated the mechanisms of replication stress resilience in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma. My work focused on how the transcription factor MYCN regulates the FBXL12–FANCD2 axis at stalled DNA replication forks. I also helped develop NanoBRET-based ubiquitination assays to identify potential small-molecule modulators.
Following my thesis, I extended my stay in the team as a research assistant, further developing the project and contributing to several ongoing publications and lines of research, while broadening my expertise and strengthening my independence in replication stress biology and ubiquitin-mediated protein regulation.
This naturally led me to join Prof. Ladurner and the Eisbach Bio team for my PhD, where I focus on developing chemical biology strategies that target chromatin-associated and genome-regulatory machineries that create vulnerabilities in cancer cells.
Research
For my PhD at Eisbach Bio, I focus on developing chemical biology strategies to selectively target specific oncogenic dependencies in cancer cells.
My research aims to identify and therapeutically exploit synthetic-lethal vulnerabilities by modulating the activity of chromatin-associated molecular machines and protein homeostasis pathways that are essential for tumor survival. Embedded within Eisbach Bio’s precision oncology framework, my project investigates enzymes involved in genome reorganization and DNA repair, with the goal of identifying regulatory allosteric sites that can be pharmacologically targeted.
By integrating mechanistic insights with small-molecule drug discovery, I will contribute to the development of selective modulators that impair cancer cell proliferation while minimizing side-effects.