Alessandro Bertero, PhD
Principal Investigator

Elisa Balmas, PhD
​Senior Scientist

Alessandro leads the Armenise-Laboratory of Heart Engineering & Developmental Genomics et al (HEDGe) and is an Associate Professor of Experimental Biology in the Dept. of Health Sciences and Biotechnology of the University of Torino.

​He first trained with the late Guido Tarone at the same institution, where he dissected the Melusin signalling pathway in cardiac hypertrophy and graduated for a BSci and an MSci. He then obtained an MRes and a PhD from the University of Cambridge by elucidating how TGF beta signalling controls the early differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells, working in the laboratory of Ludovic Vallier. Alessandro performed his postdoctoral training with Chuck Murry at the University of Washington, where he determined the role of 3D chromatin organization dynamics during human cardiogenesis and in dilated cardiomyopathy. He became a junior faculty member at UW in July 2019. In 2021 Alessandro received the Armenise-Harvard Career Development Award to establish his laboratory in Italy.

Elisa is a senior scientist and the manager of the Single Cell Phenotyping hub (SCPhub@MBC). Her main focus is developing functional screening platforms based on scRNAseq for the study of congenital heart diseases.

Elisa studied Biotechnology (BSci, 2010) and Medical Biotechnology (MSci, 2013) at the University of Torino. She obtained her PhD at the University of Cambridge (2017) working with Francesco Colucci, and performed her postdoctoral training with Karen Cerosaletti at the Benaroya Research Institute in Seattle. Elisa moved back to Italy in 2021.

Kirsten Snijders, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Kirsten is a postdoctoral scientist studying gene function during cardiac development using hiPSC-derived cardiac models coupled with CRISPR screens and scRNA-seq.

​Kirsten studied Biological Sciences (BSci, 2013) and Environmental Science (MSci, 2014) at Lancaster University in the UK. After working as a Research Assistant for the Cambridge University hiPSC core facility, she pursued a PhD in stem cell biology at Leiden University in the Netherlands. 

Łukasz Truszkowski, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Łukasz is a postdoctoral scientist investigating 3D chromatin structure dynamics using super-resolution live imaging applied to genetically engineered hiPSC models.

Łukasz studied Biotechnology (BSci, 2012) and Medical Biotechnology (MSci, 2015) at the University of Wasraw in Poland, spending a year as visiting trainee at the University of Chicago. He then pursued a PhD in developmental biology in the lab of Ere Raz at the University of Münster in Germany.

Federica Sozza, MSci
PhD Student

​Federica is a PhD student in Complex Systems for Quantitative Biomedicine. Her project aims to develop and deploy novel CRISPR techniques to understand and engineer cell fate decisions.

She studied at UniTO where she pursued a Bachelor Degree in Biology followed by a Master Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a research fellowship at the IRCCS of Candiolo.

Sveva Bottini, MSci
PhD Student

Sveva is a PhD student in Complex Systems for Quantitative Biomedicine. Her project focuses on the development of an approach for cultured meat with massively lowered production costs.

Sveva studied Biotechnology in Camerino, and moved to UniTO for her Master degree in Molecular Biotechnology and an Advanced Master in Stem Cells, Regenerative medicine, & Cell Factories.

Giulia Savorè, MSci
PhD Student

Silvia Becca, MSci
PhD Student

Giulia is a PhD student in Molecular Medicine. Her project focuses on dissecting the structural bases for the cardioprotective functions of the muscle specific protein Melusin.

She studied at UniTO where she pursued her Bachelor Degree in Biological Sciences followed by a Master Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology, graduating with an experimental thesis on the metabolic function of Melusin.

Silvia is a PhD student in Molecular Medicine. Her project aims to model congenital heart defect in organoid models in order to understand the underlying mechanisms at the chromatin topology level.

She studied at the University of Bologna, obtaining a Bachelor Degree in Biotechnology and a Master Degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, performing an internship at the University of Cambridge with Ludovic Vallier.

Maria L. Ratto, MSci
​PhD Student

Maria Luisa is a PhD student in Complex Systems for Quantitative Biomedicine. She is co-supervised by Raffaele Calogero, and is developing bioinformatics methods for single cell genomics.

She obtained her Bachelor Degree in Biotechnology and Master Degree in Molecular Biotechnology at UniTO, graduating with an experimental thesis on single cell genomics analytical methods.

Martina Terenzi, BSci
​Master Student

Michelle Guichardaz, BSci
​Master Student

Martina is a second year Master student in Molecular Biotechnology. Her capstone project focuses on the development of CRISPRa methods

Michelle is a second year Master student in Molecular Biotechnology. Her capstone project revolves on hiPSC forward programming

Martina Arricale
Bachelor Student

Martina is a third year Bachelor student in Biotechnology. Her traineeship  focuses on the structure and function of Melusin

Sara Bianchi
Bachelor Student

Sara is a second year Bachelor student in Biotechnology. She is training in using hiPSC models to study cardiac development and disease

You?

We are always eager to hear from interested applicants at all stages of training - check our "join us" page for specific opening

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Lab Alumni

Elisa Maria Hahn - Pre-doctoral Research Associate, 2/23-9/23. Next role: PhD Student, Trivedi Lab, EMBL Barcelona, ES​

Gabrielle Nattenberg - Student Assistant & Research Scientist I, 11/19-04/21. Next role: Research Scientist I, University of Washington, USA

Heather Klug - Research Scientist I, 11/19-07/20. Next role: Doctor of Pharmacy Student, University of Colorado, USA