Giulia Lencioni

Giulia Lencioni, a biologist holding a master’s degree in molecular and cellular biology, is currently pursuing a PhD in Biology at the University of Pisa. Her research is conducted under the supervision of Professor Elisa Giovannetti at Fondazione Pisana per la Scienza and focuses on gaining new insights into the biology of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

PDAC is a particularly aggressive form of cancer which has an increasing incidence and will soon become the second cause of death due to cancer worldwide. The main features underlying PDAC lethality include innate and acquired drug resistance and aggressive metastatic behaviour.

Giulia’s project is around developing a cutting-edge in vitro model of PDAC, called tumour organoid, starting from patients-derived tissues. The ultimate goal of Giulia’s project is to utilise this organoid model to identify novel biomarkers through comprehensive transcriptomics and proteomics analyses alongside functional studies.