Alessia Volpe

Experience

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  Italian National Research Council

  Jan 2010 - Jan 2012

  Targeted Therapy in Thyroid Cancer: Identification of new inhibitors of the tyrosine kinase receptor RET.Oncogenic alterations of the tyrosine kinase receptor RET are associated with several human cancers. The identification of mutations responsible for RET costitutive activation in papillary and medullary thyroid carcinomas and its germline mutations found in familial medullary thyroid cancer, make RET a strategic molecular target for thyroid cancer therapy.The aim of the project was to identify new small molecule inhibitors of RET tyrosine kinase receptor for the treatment of thyroid cancer. Several compounds were tested in murine fibroblasts expressing point mutations of RET associated to medullary thyroid cancer (RAT-2A/C634R, RAT-2B/M918T, RAT-RET/E768D, RAT-RET/L790F, RAT-RET/Y791F, RAT-RET/V804L, RAT-RET/V804M, RAT-RET/A883F, RAT-RET/S891A) and in human medullary thyroid cancer cells (TT-RET/C634W e MZ-CRC-1 RET/M918T).At the end of the study we identified a TKI, ALW-II-41-27, as a new drug for the treatment of medullary thyroid cancer harboring oncogenic activation of RET. Show less Molecular Basis of Thyroid Cancer: Analysis of NCOA4 gene expression in thyroid cancer.NCOA4 is a transcriptional coactivator of nuclear hormone receptors that undergoes gene rearrangement in human cancers.In papillary thyroid cancer the N-terminus (5’) of NCOA4 is fused to the C-terminus (3’) of RET protein kinase (RET/PCT3 rearrangement).The aim of the project was to analyse NCOA4 gene expression in several human thyroid cancer cell lines (BcPAP, TPC1, 8505C, CAL62, OCUT-1, SW1736, ACT-1, WRO, C643, U-HTH7) and in human thyroid cancer tissues (papillary thyroid carcinoma and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma).This study was part of a wider project investigating the role of NCOA4 in cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. Show less

  • Intern Student in Molecular Oncology - Institute of Endocrinology and Experimental Oncology

    Jan 2011 - Jan 2012

  • Intern Student in Molecular Oncology - Institute of Endocrinology and Experimental Oncology

    Jan 2010 - Jan 2011
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  King's College London

  Jan 2013 - Aug 2019

  Cancer metastasis is the main cause of mortality for cancer patients. Imaging spontaneous cancer cell metastasis is particularly challenging to achieve. While previous studies used a single site of metastasis as a read-out, therefore over-simplifying the complexity of the metastasis cascade, I planned to employ multi-modal multi-scale imaging to track cancer cells in vivo on the whole-body level.The goal of my work was to develop highly sensitive and reliable pre-clinical longitudinal in vivo cancer cell tracking models, thereby facilitating research into the mechanistic understanding of cancer metastasis as well as discovery and validation of anti-cancer therapies.For this purpose, I optimized and characterized radionuclide-based reporter gene methodology as it is the most sensitive preclinical whole-body imaging technique available to date.I applied this strategy to an inflammatory breast cancer model to demonstrate the different patterns of metastatic spread intrinsic to tumour cell clones stemming from the same primary tumour. In a melanoma model, I quantified melanoma growth and remodelling including regional metastasis. Furthermore, I applied this reporter gene strategy to demonstrate the arrival of a differently radiolabelled nanomedicine at tumour and metastatic sites (via dual radionuclide imaging) in a model of metastatic breast cancer. The therapeutic aspect of this work relates to the in vivo tracking of a liposomal immunomodulatory drug. The quantification of its in vivo distribution by imaging enabled the determination of optimal nanomedicine delivery time points for the subsequent administration of the immunotherapy. The reporter gene-afforded dual-mode cancer cell tracking methodology proved to be a reliable, sensitive and straight forward toolbox, which through my studies became available for other researchers with an interest in the long time in vivo tracking of cells. Show less

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cancer Imaging

    Jan 2018 - Aug 2019

  • PhD Researcher in Cancer Imaging

    Jan 2013 - Dec 2017
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  European Association For Cancer Research (EACR)

  Dec 2016 - now

  EACR Ambassador
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  World Molecular Imaging Society

  Jan 2018 - now

  Reviewer at the WMIC (World Molecular Imaging Conference)

  Category "Oncology"

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  European Society for Molecular Imaging - ESMI

  Jan 2018 - now

  Reviewer at EMIM (European Molecular Imaging Meeting)

  Categories "Understanding Tumor Biology" and "Immuno-Oncology"

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  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  Aug 2019 - now

  Dr Vladimir Ponomarev Research Laboratory https://www.mskcc.org/research-programs/lung-research Center for Molecular Imaging and Nanotechnologyhttps://www.mskcc.org/research-programs/molecular-imaging-bioengineering/tow-foundation-postdoctoral-fellowships/tow-foundation-fellows https://www.mskcc.org/research-programs/experimental-immuno-oncology

  • Chief Research Fellow/Research Associate (Radiology Department)

    Jun 2021 - now

  • The Druckenmiller Center for Lung Cancer Research (DCLCR) Award

    Oct 2022 - now

  • The Tow Foundation Fellowship Award

    Jul 2022 - now

  • Center for Experimental Immuno-Oncology Fellowship Award

    Jun 2021 - Jun 2022

  • Research Scholar in Cancer Immunotherapy

    Aug 2019 - Jun 2021