Giovanna Azzarito is a PhD student in the Department for Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. She studied Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Calabria, Rende, Italy.
In her master thesis, she investigated the pharmaceutical effect of Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) in the cardiovascular system. This project was carried out in collaboration with the University of Valencia, Spain, where she spent one year investigating the expression of NT-3 and its receptor to understand the different signalling pathways involved in the response of NT-3 in aorta and left ventricle. To achieve this aim, several experiments were conducted involving animals with deleted endothelial NOS (nitric oxide synthase) expression. In this way it could be possible to better understand the vasomotor activity of NT-3 and its activation mechanism. Experiments showed that NT-3 has a relaxing effect on rat aorta via the eNOS pathway in which the NO is released from the endothelium.
After her formal studies, Giovanna moved to the University Hospital Zurich, Department of Rheumatology, Switzerland. Here, she was involved in a project investigating RNAs as a potential biomarker in Ankylosing Spondylitis and new primers were designed to identify differentially expressed genes in PBMCs (peripheral blood mononuclear cells). Moreover, the presence of genes was also confirmed in single cells (NK, B, T cells and Monocytes).
Her PhD is focused on the identification of miRNAs that differentially regulate angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer. The goal of the project is to identify miRNAs that reduce cancer growth and specific factors released by carcinogenic cells to inhibit tumor progression and dissemination. To replicate the in-vivo cell-cell interaction, first she developed a model for the simultaneous culture of endothelial and tumor cells in a 3D structure (spheroids). This model was used to discover new biomarkers using molecular and transcriptomic approaches and it may play a fundamental role in the early diagnosis of cancer and predict therapeutic response. Furthermore, this technique represents a useful and less invasive alternative to identify therapeutic targets and to discover relevant mechanisms to target tumor growth.
Her passion for research is fuelled by the acts of finding new knowledge for everyone and by the desire to develop new therapeutic approaches to prevent, alleviate or cure diseases and improve people’s life quality.
