Curriculum Vitae
ROBERTO TONELLI
PRESENTATION
ROBERTO TONELLI was born on 6 december, 1969 in
Fano (PU).
He is married with Francesca Matrà and he has four dauthers:
Teresa, born in Bologna on may 27, 2001; Caterina, born in Bologna
on october 8, 2003; Rosa, born in Bologna on september 5, 2005;
Beatrice, born in Bologna on may 27, 2011.
Education
In 1994 graduated summa cum laude (110/110 e lode) in Biology
from the University of Bologna.
- He finished PhD in Experimental Hematology in 1999 (University
of Modena).
Current Appointment
Since 2008 he is Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, at the Department
of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna.
Previous Appointments
· Since 1991 employed in
molecular biology, at the Laboratory of Experimental
Hematology-Oncology directed by professor G.P. Bagnara in the
"Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research" (University of
Bologna).
· Since 1995 employed in
Medical Genetics of heritable hematological diseases, to identify
and characterize disease genes.
- Since
1998 employed in the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center to
identify new therapeutical approaches for pediatric tumors (in
particular Neuroblastoma and Acute Myeloid Leukemia) and in support
of clinical diagnosis and prognosis. In 1998 he set up the
laboratory of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology of the University of
Bologna, comprising methods in molecular and cellular biology and
bioinformatics, dedicated to the discovery and development of new
therapies for pediatric oncology. He directly set up instruments
and the related methods (such as automatic DNA sequencing;
automatic analysis of DNA polymorhisms; quantitative real-time PCR:
high density DNA microarray analysis; HLPC; cell line and primary
cultures of pediatric solid tumors (particularly neuroblastoma),
leukemias and lymphomas; cytofluorimetric analysis; cytogenetics
and FISH; development of a bioinformatic tool based on 10 clustered
units with system Beowulf, dedicated to the homology-modelling
(AMBER) of oncogenes and virtual screening of small molecules data
bases (Dock5, FlexX).
· 06/2000-07/2000 Visiting
Scientist at the Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer
Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA, in the contest of the
collaboration with Dr. J. Khan for “the development of
nanotecnologies (DNA microarrray) for the screening of small
molecules as potential molecular target therapy for Neuroblastoma
and Acute Myeloid Leukemia”.
- Since 1998 he has
been the head and coordinator of the research teamof the Laboratory
of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, of the Pediatric Clinic, S.
Orsola Hospital, University of Bologna. Under his management, the
team passed from four scientists to 18 scientists currently. The
main topics of research regard the development of new therapies for
Neuroblastoma and Acute Myeloid Leukemia that comprise: molecular
target therapies by homology modelling of oncogenes followed by
virtual screening and rational design of small molecules;
development of antisense and anti-gene peptide nucleic acids;
identification and characterization of new inhibitors for chromatin
remodelling proteins (Histon-deacetylases, DNA-methyltransferases);
immunotherapy based on anti-idiotype patient-specific vaccines for
B-Acute Lymphoid leukemia; adoptive cellular immunotherapy for
solid tumors and leukemia by the identification and use of
tumor-specific citotoxic lymphocites.
- Since 2000 employed
as research assistant category D1, at the Pediatric
Hematology-Oncology Center, University of Bologna.
- Since 2002 he has
been a called member of the Scientific Commetee of the
"Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research" University of
Bologna.
- Since 2009 he has been an elected member of the
"Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research" University of
Bologna.
Scientific research activity
The scientific reseach activity is focused to pharmacology
applied to oncology. In particular his research activity concern
the preclinical evaluation of new potential therapies for
aggressive pediatric and adult cancers. The pharmacologic
approaches are mainly focused on the in vitro and in vivo
characterization of antigene and antisense oligonucleotides
directed against oncogenes.
Patents
He is inventor of the patent titled: “METHOD FOR SELECTIVE
INHIBITION OF HUMAN N-MYC GENE IN N-MYC EXPRESSING TUMORS THROUGH
ANTISENSE AND ANTI-GENE PEPTIDE NUCLEIC ACIDS (PNA)". n.
MI2003A000860, deposited in 29-4-03. International
n.PCT/IB2004/001297, already accepted in Europe, USA, Canada,
Japan.
