Life Sciences: Tiziana Bonaldi is a new member of EMBO

Tiziana Bonaldi, research fellow at the Department of Oncology and Hematology-Oncology of the University of Milan and tenured Group Leader at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan, is among the 69 new members of EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization), which gathers together scientists operating in the field of biological sciences. 

Tiziana Bonaldi will be officially welcomed to the organization at the EMBO Members’ Meeting that will take place in Heidelberg from 25 to 27 October 2023. She joins a community of 2,000 EMBO member scientists, including 91 Nobel Prize winners, who are working to provide guidance and support to the organization, define research paths in the life sciences and promote the careers of young researchers, thus strengthening the international scientific community.

After earning a degree in Biological sciences in 1997 from the University of Milan, Tiziana Bonaldi took a PhD in Molecular and cellular biology at the San Raffaele Biotechnology Department (Dibit), also in Milan. She then did two post-doctoral fellowships in Germany, the first one at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the second one at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried. 

She is now a fixed-term research fellow (type B) at the Department of Oncology and Hematology-Oncology of the University of Milan, where she coordinates the Proteomics course of the Master’s degree in Biomedical Omics, and teaches Applied Biology for the Bachelor’s degree in Health Professions of the University. Since 2008, Tiziana Bonaldi has also been tenured Group Leader at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan, where she coordinates the research group “Cancer epi-proteomics and gene expression regulation”.

She wrote more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and she is not new to prestigious international honours, as she won the “Armenise-Harvard Career Development Award” in 2007 and the “International Inner Wheel for Women” in 2010, for her scientific achievements.

Tiziana Bonaldi and her research team investigate proteomics applied to the study of the molecular mechanisms underpinning adaptive response in cancer, focusing on the epigenetic regulation of the genic expression. As Professor Bonaldi said: “We have contributed to research in this field by providing technological innovations and findings related to the plasticity of epigenetic modifications under specific physiological and pathological conditions, as well as in response to certain perturbations, through the molecular analysis of preclinical models and, more recently, primary samples from cancer patients. Moreover, we are currently studying the role of some methyltransferases and demethylases (e.g. LSD1, PRMT1) in the onset and progression of different types of cancer, as well as in response to chemotherapy”.