University

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5387-5925

Emanuela Grassilli is Associate Professor of General Pathology (MED/04). She graduated with honors in Biological Sciences, at the University of Modena in 1989. Immediately after graduation, she began her research in the field of oncology, studying the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and their relationship with cell proliferation in lymphoid cells. Upon attaining her Ph.D., she was a post-doc fellow at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia PA, (USA) in the1996-1999 period, where she became interested in the relationships between malfunction of apoptotic mechanisms and oncogenic transformation in chemotherapy-resistant lymphoid cancer cells. During 1999-2004 as a postdoctoral fellow at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan, Italy, he first characterized Myc-regulated pathways in drug-induced apoptosis and then conducted a phenotype screen using a shRNA library in order to identify genes that support drug resistance in a colon cancer model. Later, she moved to the University of Milano-Bicocca, where she continued the project by characterizing some of the targets isolated in the screening: the development of this line of research led to the creation, in 2010, of “Bionsil srl,” a spin-off of the University of Milano-Bicocca (of which she was a founding partner and Chief Operating Officer). In this regard, several polyclonal serums against p65BTK, a new isoform of BTK isolated from the aforementioned phenotypic screening, were produced and characterized. Since then, Dr. Grassilli's research focused on p65BTK, as a new “actionable target,” demonstrating that p65BTK is expressed in several solid tumors (colon, ovarian, head-neck, NSCLC, glioblastoma, and melanoma) and its targeting, alone or in combination with chemotherapy/targeted therapy (depending on tumor type) has cytotoxic action in experimental drug-resistant systems. Studies on gastric and breast carcinomas are currently underway.  As part of this research, several collaborations have been established with national and international groups.  She has been collaborating for years with Dr. Maria Grazia Cerrito (University of Milano-Bicocca) on two other lines of research concerning breast carcinoma: i) identification and characterization of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying response to chemotherapy administered according to metronomic schedule; ii) development of new approaches and tools for early diagnosis of breast carcinoma from liquid biopsy by identification of markers present in extracellular vesicles.

The scientific production of Prof. Emanuela Grassilli is collected in 63 peer-reviewed international publications with H-index 29 and a total citation count of 3118.

For the aforementioned research projects, Prof. Emanuela Grassilli contributed to the acquisition of more than two million euros to establish the university spin-off and obtained several grants, awarded by American charities on a competitive basis (Lung Cancer Research Foundation USA, Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer, earlier.org - Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test).

Prof. Emanuela Grassilli has 20 years of experience in teaching topics related to SSD MED/04: in the academic years 2004-2005/2012-2013 she taught Molecular Therapy, Master's Degree in Medical Biotechnology; in the academic year 2009-2010 she taught Cellular and Molecular Oncology, Master's Degree in Biology; from the academic year 2017-2018 to date she teaches General Pathology, Single-Cycle Degree Course in Medicine ans Surgery.