Dr. Capone Iolanda

Graduated in 2011 in Biomolecular and Cellular Sciences from the University of Ferrara.

I furthered my education with an industrial PhD in Molecular Medicine, completed in 2022 at the University of Parma, with an experimental thesis titled "Metastatic and Chemorefractory Colorectal Carcinoma," focused on the research of new therapeutic protocols for patients with chemoresistant mCRC. The thesis was developed along two research lines: the first based on various immune checkpoint inhibitors, while the second explored a potential challenge with anti-EGFR in patients who had benefited from first-line treatment and wild-type for KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF on liquid biopsy. 

I am currently enrolled in the first year of a specialization in Medical Genetics at the University of Milan.

Since 2015, I have been working at the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (INT) in Milan, where I have been involved in the molecular characterization of solid tumors in patients attending the Institute, applying various laboratory methods. In particular I focus on NGS analysis, with targeted panels or comprehensive genomic profiles (CGP) from tumor tissue or liquid biopsy, using the different sequencing platforms available at the Institute (Thermo Fisher and Illumina). In this context, I collaborate with the institutional "Molecular Tumor Board," where I am involved in the analysis of the mutational profile of 500 genes, microsatellite instability status, TMB (tumor mutational burden), detection of fusion transcripts, and CNVs (copy number variations).

The main objectives of this analysis are: the enrollment of patients with a specific molecular signature in clinical studies; the identification of pathogenic, prognostic, or predictive biomarkers in the preclinical phase; and the creation of a prospective database with the molecular characterization of solid tumors, aimed at identifying recurrent biomarkers.