Giuseppina Pisignano

research interests

I am a Postdoctoral Scientist in Chunxiao Song's laboratory and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). My research investigates the role of one of the most abundant and highly conserved RNA modifications, pseudouridine, which can influence RNA stability, structure, and function. By exploring the epitranscriptomic signatures and mechanisms through which pseudouridine modifications impact gene expression and cellular behaviour in cancer conditions, I aim to uncover the contributions of pseudouridine to tumorigenesis and metastasis. Part of my research also focuses on improving detection methods to enhance their effectiveness in identifying pseudouridine modifications in unexplored and low-abundance non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) found in patient samples. This work holds the potential to enhance our understanding of RNA biology in the context of cancer, as well as to identify novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers that could improve diagnostic and treatment strategies for cancer patients.

background

I earned my PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. My doctoral research focused on elucidating the structures and functional roles of ncRNAs, along with exploring the non-coding sequence variants associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. During my last year of PhD, I was awarded the one-year Mario Luvini Swiss Fellowship from the Cancer Research Foundation to further develop my research project as a visiting PhD student at the University of Washington. I then joined Prof Adele Murrell’s lab at University of Bath as a postdoctoral researcher to study non-coding transcripts affecting the 3D genome architecture and gene expression in imprinted loci and cancer.

I’m currently member of the EDI committee at the Ludwig, as well as part of the EDI working group and ANDME group at the NDMRB.