PERSONAL STATEMENT:

I am a Bilingual Scientist with bilingual Scientist with a PhD and Masters in biological sciences and over 9 years experience in cell and molecular biology. During my research career, I have had the opportunity to learn and practice many molecular and cell biology techniques such as in vitro and ex vivo cell culture, cell transfection/transduction, cell assay development, qPCR/PCR, gene editing/cloning, ELISA, western blotting, flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, and electron microscopy. In addition to technical and analytical abilities, I am proficient in problem solving, project management, oversee and train lab technitians, students and research fellow. I have a very positive attitude to enhance the team performance in order to finalise research projects. I am extremely experienced in management and delivery of complex multi-disciplinary projects thanks to excellent stakeholder management, communication and organisational skills. As dissemination is a critical part of research, I always seek to publish my work in high quality papers and presenting my work at national and international level to promote myself and my work in the scientific comunity.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:

2017-present: Research Fellow at Southampton University, Faculty of Medicine, Academic Unit of Clinical and Experimental Sciences working on the mechanisms of lung injury/repair.

Investigation of the consequence of SARS-Cov-2 infection of Type 2 alveolar cells upon alveolar-fibroblast crosstalk during lung injury/repair.

Investigation of cell signalling in wound healing, fibrosis and tissue regeneration.

Characterization of biomarkers of disease using different proteomic/genomic approaches and develop new treatments using state of the art analytical technology-bioassays.

Establish unique and innovative methodologies for the investigation molecular mechanisms and therapeutic prospects in lung injury/repair

Organise and optimise the research work flow in order to efficiencly liase with team workers and collaborators across the different research and educational activities.

Attend scientific conferences and meetings where I engaged with international scientists and life sciences manufacturers in order to keep updated about last findings and new technology applications in my research field. This also gave me an overview of the future research trend and explore any commercial or societal potential of my work.

Publishing my research findinds and presenting at public and scientific events in order to promote my research work and expand my network of collaborators and supporters.

Personal and in team funding application to support our new research activities and proof of concept.

Supervise and train lab technitians, students and research fellow.

Support team members and collaborators in their research activities.

2013-2017: Research Fellow at Southampton University, Faculty of Medicine, Academic Unit of Clinical and Experimental Sciences working on the identification of biomarkers and drug development.

Investigation and characterization of mechanism of lung disease and identification of new potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers.

Establish and optimise innovative protocols that allows bronchoalveolar lavage of two lobes following patient sedation and ventilation in collaboration with clincal trial assistent, surgeons and clinicians.

Create a unique biological sample repository that will be valuable for innovative studies and new research collaborations.

Actively building a network with other scientist that will promote future collaboration and grant applications.

International collaboration for the development of biocompatible scaffold for application in regenerative medicine.

Active involvement in multidisciplinary activity where research collaborations help to accelerate discovery.

Publishing my research findinds and presenting at public and scientific events in order to promote my research work and expand my network of collaborators and supporters.

EDUCATION

2007-2010: PhD in Medical Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine at the Policlinico Tor Vergata (PTV), University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Rome, Italy.

Investigation of mechamisms of disease in prostate and skin cancer.

Drug development for the treatment prostate, brain and skin cancer.

Internship at the MRC Toxicology Unit at the University of Leicester in the Apoptosis and Cancer Lab.

Discovery of a new role of the ubiquitin ligase (PIR2/Rnf144B) that selectively degrades the dominant-negative oncogenic isoforms of p73. Work published in PNAS 2010.

LANGUAGES: Italian: native; English: fluent.

PROCEEDINGS:

1: Presentation at the ERS International Congress 2019. “Investigation of the epithelial-mesenchymal paracrine interactions in lung tissue repair and fibrosis”. September 2019, Madrid, Spain.

2: Presentation at the ERS 17th Lung Science Conference 2019. “Investigation of the epithelial-mesenchymal trophic unit in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis”. 7-10 March 2019, Estoril, Portugal.

3: Attendance at the Public Health England workshop “Advanced Cell Culture: A Practical Approach”. 8 Jun 2018, London, UK.

4: Attendance at the ERS International Congress 2017. 9-13 September, Milan, Italy.

5: Presentation at the 19th International Colloquium on Lung and Airway Fibrosis (ICLAF) 2016. “Evaluation of romidepsin (FK228) as a potential therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)” 24-28 September 2016, Dublin, Ireland.

6: Presentation at the ERS conference 2016. “Evaluation of romidepsin (FK228) as a potential therapy for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)”. 3-7 September 2016, London, United Kingdom.

PUBLICATIONS:

1.Yao, L., Zhou, Y., Li, J., Wickens, L., Conforti, F., Rattu, A., Ibrahim, F. M., Alzetani, A., Marshall, B., Fletcher, S. V., Hancock, D., Wallis, T., Downward, J., Ewing, R., Richeldi, L., Skipp, P., Davies, D., Jones, M., & Wang, Y.. “Bi-directional epithelial-mesenchymal crosstalk provides self-sustaining pro-fibrotic signals in pulmonary fibrosis”. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2021 September.

2.Cornelia Blume, Claire L. Jackson, Cosma Mirella Spalluto, Jelmer Legebeke, Liliya Nazlamova, Franco Conforti, Jeanne-Marie Perotin, Martin Frank, John Butler, Max Crispin, Janice Coles, James Thompson, Robert A. Ridley, Lareb S. N. Dean, Matthew Loxham, Stephanie Reikine, Adnan Azim, Kamran Tariq, David A. Johnston, Paul J. Skipp, Ratko Djukanovic, Diana Baralle, Christopher J. McCormick, Donna E. Davies, Jane S. Lucas, Gabrielle Wheway and Vito Mennella. “A novel ACE2 isoform is expressed in human respiratory epithelia and is upregulated in response to interferons and RNA respiratory virus infection”. Nature Genetics 2021 Febbruary.

3.Franco Conforti, Robert Ridley, Christopher Brereton, Aiman Alzetani, Benjamin Johnson, Ben G. Marshall, Sophie V. Fletcher, Christian H. Ottensmeier, Luca Richeldi, Paul Skipp, Yihua Wang, Mark G. Jones & Donna E. Davies. “Paracrine SPARC signaling dysregulates alveolar epithelial barrier integrity and function in lung fibrosis”. Cell Death Discovery 2020 Jun.

4.Charlotte Hill, Juanjuan Li, Dian Liu, Franco Conforti, Christopher J. Brereton, Liudi Yao, Yilu Zhou, Aiman Alzetani, Serena J. Chee, Ben G. Marshall, Sophie V. Fletcher, David Hancock, Christian H. Ottensmeier, Andrew J. Steele, Julian Downward, Luca Richeldi, Xin Lu, Donna E. Davies, Mark G. Jones & Yihua Wang. “Autophagy inhibition-mediated epithelial–mesenchymal transition augments local myofibroblast differentiation in pulmonary fibrosis.” Cell Death & Disease 2019 August.

5.Salvatore Montesanto, Natalie P. Smithers, Fabio Bucchieri, Valerio Brucato, Vincenzo La Carrubba, Donna E. Davies, Franco Conforti. “Establishment of a pulmonary epithelial barrier on biodegradable poly-L-lactic-acid membranes”. PLOS ONE 2019 January.

6.Liudi Yao, Franco Conforti, Charlotte Hill, Joseph Bell, Leena Drawater, Juanjuan Li, Dian Liu, Hua Xiong, Aiman Alzetani, Serena J. Chee, Ben G. Marshall, Sophie V. Fletcher, David Hancock, Mark Coldwell, Xianglin Yuan, Christian H. Ottensmeier, Julian Downward, Jane E. Collins, Rob M. Ewing, Luca Richeldi, Paul Skipp, Mark G. Jones, Donna E. Davies and Yihua Wang. “Paracrine signalling during ZEB1-mediated epithelial mesenchymal transition augments local myofibroblast differentiation in lung fibrosis”. Cell Death & Disease 2018 July.

7.Qing Zhou, Sahar Eldakhakhny, Franco Conforti, Emma J. Crosbie, Gerry Melino and Berna S. Sayan. “Pir2/Rnf144b is a potential endometrial cancer biomarker that promotes cell proliferation”. Cell Death & Disease 2018 May.

8.Franco Conforti, Elizabeth R. Davies, Claire J. Calderwood, Thomas H. Thatcher, Mark G. Jones, David E. Smart, Sumeet Mahajan, Aiman Alzetani, Tom Havelock, Toby M. Maher, Philip L. Molyneaux, Andrew J. Thorley, Teresa D. Tetley, Jane A.Warner, Graham Packham, A. Ganesan, Paul J. Skipp, Benjamin J. Marshall, Luca Richeldi, Patricia J. Sime, Katherine M.A. O’Reilly and Donna E. Davies. “The histone deacetylase inhibitor, romidepsin, as a potential treatment for pulmonary fibrosis”. Oncotarget 2017 July; 25;8(30):487**-*****.

9.Conforti F, Yang AL, Piro M, Mellone M, Terrinoni A, Candi E, Tucci P, Thomas GJ, Knight RA, Melino G, Sayan BS. “PIR2/Rnf144B regulates epithelial homeostasis by controlling p21WAF1 and p63 stability”. Oncogene 2013 Oct;32(40):4758-65.

10.Conforti F, Yang AL, Agostini M, Rufini A, Tucci P, Nicklison-Chirou MV, Grespi F, Velletri T, Knight RA, Melino G and Sayan BS. “Relative expression of TAp73 and ΔNp73 isoforms”. Aging. 2012 Mar; 4(3):202-5.

11.Conforti F, Sayan AE, Sreekumar R and Sayan BS. “Regulation of p73 activity by post-translational modifications”. Cell Death & Disease 2012 Mar 15;3:e285.

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