Foto del docente

Susi Pelotti

Full Professor

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences

Academic discipline: MED/43 Forensic Medicine

Head of Scuola di Specializzazione Medicina Legale (DI 68/2015)

Coordinator of PhD Programme in General Medical and Services Sciences

Research

Keywords: pharmacogenetics forensic pathology and sudden death population studies forensic identification medical liability domestic violence informed medical consent

issues relating to medical professional liability in criminal and civil matters in the light of recent legislative measures. Guidelines, good clinical-care practices and responsibilities. Doctor-patient relationship and informed choice. Personalized therapy.

Gender-based violence and domestic violence: risk factor analysis, prevention and contrast strategies. Violence against the elderly: epidemiological study, evaluation of the results, tools for the training of health professionals in terms of recognition and reporting to the Judicial Authority.

Gender medicine and implications in the care, prevention, rehabilitation and responsibility fields.

Individual diagnosis on biological traces through analysis of microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA, participating in national collaborative projects organized by the GeFI (Italian Society of Forensic Genetics).

Forensic investigations on the paternity testing, withe expert systems for statistical evaluation in deficient cases.

Study of ancient DNA on skeletal remains, through methods aimed at overcoming the conditions of DNA amplification inhibition and specific techniques for the recovery of degraded DNA.

Molecular analysis of tissues fixed and embedded in paraffin, with the examination of the effects of fixatives on DNA.

Population analysis with particular regard to the preparation of genetic databases and study of the ethical implications.

DNA sequencing with the most recent techniques and deepening of the study of difficult regions (C-stretches) of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop. Study of the Y chromosome to join the European program aimed at creating a database. Study of the X chromosome in its microsatellite hypervariable regions and application to Turner Syndrome and to the study of the parenting relationship.

Pharmacogenetic studies in particular on the polymorphism of the genes CYP2D6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2B6, for the definition of the metabolizer status and the phenoconversion phenomenon, useful for the prevention of adverse drug reactions.

Identification of new genetic markers for forensic investigations useful in the investigative phase, in cases of personal identification and validation on standards proposed by the International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG).

Analysis of autosomal SNPs in association with different physical characteristics such as eye color, hair, earlobe shape, left-handedness, ancestry, biological age (Forensic DNA Phenoptyping).

From a clinical point of view, forensic research is currently directed towards molecular autopsy for the study of cardiac sudden death  to define causes of death by histological and  molecular studies to  investigate  the genetic associations also for preventive purposes. Essential is the selection of cases to be subjected to genetic analysis, tissue histological examination and the application of SNPs polymorphisms.