Lab Experience Personal reflection – Francesco Pesce

I got the opportunity to do my 1st lab rotation at  the Laboratory of Genomics of Hematological Malignancies.

PI of the laboratory:  Professor Della Porta Matteo

Tutor: Zampini Matteo      

The lab focuses on the discovery of new effective strategies to better prevent, diagnose and treat hematological neoplasms. The main area of interest are myeloid malignancies, particularly Myelodysplastic Syndromes, which are a heterogeneous group of myeloid neoplasms that lack biomarkers for an exhaustive evaluation and prognosis.

During my lab rotation, I focused on a multicentered longitudinal project based on NGS of Myelodysplastic patients samples at different time-points during the disease. The aim is to study which mutations correlate with quicker clonal proliferation and progression to Acute Myeloid Leukemia in order to better stratify the risks of patients and find potential preventive biomarkers for treatment.

My experience & learnings: My experience in the lab was amazing! The main thing that captured my attention was the advancement of technology and how they are changing the way of performing research and practicing medicine. Another important concept I grasped is that it is important to study a disease from different points of view in order to fill in all the information, just like a puzzle!