CURRICULUM VITAE Name and Surname: CRISTINA MARCHINI

CURRICULUM VITAE
Name and Surname:
CRISTINA MARCHINI
Date and Place of Birth:
20 October 1968, CHIUSI (SI), Italy
Marital Status:
Married, with one son (1997)
Mailing Address:
Laboratory of Applied Biology
Biosciences and Biotechology School
via Gentile III da Varano,
62032 Camerino (MC) ITALY
Tel. +39 0737-403275
e-mail: [email protected]
Present Position:
Assistant Professor (BIO/13-Applied Biology) at the University of
Camerino.
Education
1987
1992
1993
1996
High School Degree at Liceo Scientifico of Città della Pieve (PG), Italy.
Laurea (MSc) in Biological Sciences, University of Bologna (Italy) (17/07/1992).
Thesis in General Physiology. Mark 110/110 cum Laude.
Qualification to practise the profession of Biologist, University of Bologna.
Ph.D. in “Cell Physiology and Neuroimmune-Physiology” (VIII cycle), University
of Bologna (5 October, 1996).
Professional Experiences
1996-1997
Post Doctoral Fellowship at the Department of Neuromorphology, Max-Planck-Institute
for Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany. Electrophysiological Laboratory headed by
Prof. P. Schubert. Research Field: “Glial cell signaling”.
1998
Visiting scientist at the Department of Neuromorphology, Max-Planck-Institute for
Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany.
1999-2000
Research Fellowship at the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Animal (MCA)
Biology, University of Camerino, Camerino (MC), Italy. Research project: "Diagnostic
markers for Alzheimer disease".
2001-2002
Research Assistant at the Institute of Normal Human Morphology, Faculty of Medicine,
Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy. Research Field: Innervation signals in
placenta.
2002-2004
Research Fellowship at the Department of Biology MCA, University of Camerino,
Camerino (MC), Italy. Research Field: DNA vaccination against HER2-positive breast
cancer. Genetic Immunization Laboratory headed by A. Amici.
2004-2008
University Researcher (BIO/13-Applied Biology) (Fixed-term position, RTD),
Department of Biology MCA, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of
Camerino, Camerino (MC), Italy.
Since 2008
Assistant Professor (BIO/13-Applied Biology) (Permanent position) at the University of
Camerino, Italy.
Since 2012
International Mobility Delegate for the School of Biosciences and Biotechnology,
University of Camerino.
Cristina Marchini’s Research Activity
Since 2004, I am Assistant Professor in Experimental Biology (BIO/13) at the School of Biosciences and
Biotechnology of the University of Camerino.
My research activity started in 1992-1995, as PhD student at Bologna University, and continued in 19961997, as postdoc researcher at Max Plank Institute of Martinsried (Germany), in the field of neuroscience.
In particular, I was involved in studies concerning the role of ion channels and Ca2+ signaling in the
physiology of glial cells.
Since 2000 I have been working in the research group headed by Augusto Amici, at the University of
Camerino, in the field of breast cancer biology and immunotherapies. In particular, I have been involved in
the design and construction of original and innovative DNA vaccines against the oncogene erbB2 and in
their validation in animal models. Our studies in this research field have been published in important peer-
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reviewed journals and have led to deposit 4 italian patents, 2 of them extended as European PCT and US
patents. Preclinical data obtained with our DNA vaccines have provided the rationale for their use in an
ongoing phase I clinical trial for the prevention and cure of ErbB2/neu positive head-and-neck carcinomas
(EudraCT number: 2011-001104-34, protocol code: IOV-HN-1-2011). These important results have been
achieved thanks to the fruitful collaborations with prestigious partners, such as Tumor Immunology Group
headed by Prof. Guido Forni at Turin University, Prof. Piero Musiani’s group at Chiety University and the
pharmaceutical company INDENA, Spa (Milan). Since 2005, I have been also studying gene delivery
systems and the mechanisms of nanoparticle-cell interactions, in collaboration with Giulio Caracciolo and
Daniela Pozzi (Sapienza University, Rome), leaders in the development of nanodelivery systems. I have
participated to numerous founded research projects (PRIN, FIRB, AIRC). I have attended national and
international conferences and I am coauthor of 43 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 4 chapters in
scientific books. Currently, my H Index is 17.
List of Publications on Peer Reviewed Journals (1995-2013):
1) Ferroni S., Marchini C., Schubert P., Rapisarda C. Two distinct inwardly rectifying conductances
are expressed in long term dibutyryl-cyclic-AMP treated rat cultured cortical astrocytes. (1995)
FEBS Lett., 367: 319-325.
2) Ferroni S., Marchini C., Nobile M., Rapisarda C. Characterization of an inwardly rectifying
chloride conductance expressed by cultured rat cortical astrocytes. (1997) GLIA, 21: 217-227.
3) Schubert P., Ogata T., Rudolphi K., Marchini C., McRae A., Ferroni S. Support of homeostatic
glial cell signaling: a novel therapeutic approach by propentofylline. In: Cerebrovascular
Pathology in Alzheimer’s disease (J.C. de la Torre and V. Hachinski Eds.). (1997) Ann. N. Y.
Acad. Sci., 826: 337-347.
4) Schubert P., Ogata T., Marchini C., Ferroni S., Rudolphi K. Protective mechanisms of adenosine
in neurons and glial cells. In: “Neuroprotective Agents” (B. Trembly and W. Slikker Eds.). (1997)
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 825: 1-10.
5) Schubert P., Ogata T., Miyazaki H., Marchini C., Ferroni S., Rudolphi K. Pathological immunoreactions of glial cells in Alzheimer’s disease and possible sites of interference. (1998) J. Neural
Transm., (suppl.), 54: 167-174.
6) Schubert P., Morino T., Miyazaki H., Ogata T., Nakamura Y., Marchini C., Ferroni S. Cascading
glial reactions: a common pathomechanism and its differentiated control by cyclic nucleotide
signaling. (2000) Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 903: 24-33.
7) Schubert P., Ogata T., Marchini C., Ferroni S. Glia-related pathomechanisms in Alzheimer' s
disease: a therapeutic target? (2001) Mechanisms of Aging and Development, 123: 47-57.
8) Eleuteri A.M., Lupidi G., Angeletti M., Amici M., Marchini C., Pucciarelli S., Fioretti E.
Structure-function relationships in bovine thymus 20S proteasome: a fluorimetric study. (2001)
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 28: 321-330.
9) Ferroni S.*, Marchini C.,* Ogata T., Schubert P. Recovery of deficient cholinergic calcium
signaling by adenosine in cultured rat cortical astrocytes. (2002) Journal of Neuroscience
Research, 68 (5): 615-21. (*Equally contributed).
10) Castrucci G., Ferrari M., Marchini C., Salvatori D., Petrini S., Provinciali M., Tosini A., Sardonini
Q., Lo Dico M., and Amici A. DNA immunization against Bovine Herpesvirus-1 infection.
Preliminary tests in calves. (2004) Comp. Immun. Microbiol. Infect. Dis., 27: 171-179.
11) Marzioni D., Tamagnone L., Capparuccia L:, Marchini C., Amici A., Todros T., Bischof P.,
Neidhart S., Grenningloh G., Castellucci M. Restricted innervation of uterus and placenta during
pregnancy: evidence for a role of the repelling signal Semaphorin 3A. (2004) Dev. Dynam., 231:
839-848.
12) Galiè M., D’Onofrio M., Montani M., Amici A., Calderan L., Marzola P., Benati D., Merigo F.,
Marchini C., and Sbarbati A., Tumor vessel compression hinders perfusion of ultrasonographic
contrast agents. (2005) Neoplasia, 7 (5): 528-536.
13) Galiè M., Sorrentino C., Montani M., Micossi L, Di Carlo E., D’Antuono T., Calderan L., Marzola
P., Benati D., Merigo F., Orlando F., Smorlesi A., Marchini C., Amici A., and Sbarbati A. Breast
carcinoma provides highly tumourigenic and invasive reactive stromal cells. (2005)
Carcinogenesis, 26 (11): 1868-1878.
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14) Castrucci G., Ferrari M., Salvatori D., Sardonini S., Frigeri F., Petrini S., Lo Dico M., Marchini
C., Rotola A., Amici A,. Provinciali M., Tosini A, Angelini R., Cassai E. Vaccination trials against
bovine herpesvirus-1. (2005) Vet. Res. Commun., 29 Suppl 2: 229-231.
15) Marchini C., Angeletti M., Eleuteri A.M., Fedeli A., Fioretti E. Aspirin modulates LPS-induced
nitric oxide release in rat glial cells. (2005) Neurosci Letters, 381(1-2): 86-91.
16) Bruni P., Pisani M., Amici A., Marchini C., Montani M., and Francescangeli O. Self-assembled
ternary complexes of neutral liposomes, DNA and bivalent metal cations. Promising vectors for
gene transfer? (2006) Appl. Phys. Lett. 88: 073901-073903. This paper has been selected for the
February 27, 2006 issue 13 n. 8 of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.
(http://www.vjnano.org).
17) Caracciolo G., Pozzi D., Caminiti R., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A. and Amenitsch H. DNA
release from cationic liposome/DNA complexes by anionic lipids. (2006) Appl. Phys. Lett., 89:
233903-233905.
18) Caracciolo G., Marchini C., Pozzi D., Caminiti R., Amenitsch H., Montani M., and Amici A.
Structural stability against disintegration by anionic lipids rationalizes the efficiency of cationic
liposome/DNA complexes. (2007) Langmuir, 23 (8): 4498-4508.
19) Caracciolo G., Pozzi D., Caminiti R., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A. and Amenitsch H.
Transfection efficiency boost by designer multicomponent lipoplexes. (2007) BBA
Biomembranes, 1768 (9): 2280-2292.
20) Caracciolo G., Pozzi D., Caminiti R., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A. and Amenitsch H. On
the correlation between phase evolution of lipoplexes/anionic lipid mixtures and DNA release.
(2007) Appl. Phys. Lett., 91: 143903-143905. This paper has been selected for the October 15,
2007 issue 16 n. 6 of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.
(http://www.vjnano.org).
21) Galiè M., Konstantinidou G., Peroni D., Scambi I., Marchini C., Magnani P., Merigo, F., Montani
M., Boschi F., Marzola P., Orrù R., Lisi V., Krampera M., Farace P., Sbarbati A., and Amici A.
Mesenchymal stem cells share molecular signature with mesenchymal tumor cells and favor early
tumor growth in syngeneic mice. (2008) Oncogene, 27(18): 2542-2551.
22) Rolla S.*, Marchini C.*, Malinarich S., Quaglino E., Lanzardo S., Montani M., Angeletti M.,
Ramadori G., Forni G., Cavallo F.*, and Amici A.* Protective immunity against neu-positive
carcinomas elicited by electroporation of plasmids encoding decreasing fragments of rat neu
extracellular domain. (2008) Hum. Gene Ther., 19: 229-239. (*Equally contributed).
23) Caracciolo G., Pozzi D., Caminiti R., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A., and Amenitsch H.
Enhanced transfection efficiency of multicomponent lipoplexes in the regime of optimal
membrane charge density. (2008) J. Phis. Chem. B, 112 (36): 11298-11304.
24) Caracciolo G., Pozzi D., Caminiti R., Marchini C., Montani M., Amenitsch H. Effect of pH on the
structure of lipoplexes. (2008) Journal of Applied Physics, 104 (1): 014701.
25) Caorsi C., Cappello P., Ceruti P., Amici A., Marchini C., Novelli F., Forni G., and Giovarelli M.
CCL16 enhances the CD8+ and CD4+ T cell reactivity to human HER-2 elicited by dendritic cells
loaded with rat ortholog HER-2. (2008) Int J Immunopath Ph, 21(4): 867-877.
26) Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A., Pozzi D., Caminiti R., and Caracciolo G. Surface area of lipid
membranes regulates the DNA-binding capacity of cationic liposomes. (2009) Appl. Phys. Lett.,
94: 033903-033906.
27) Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A., Amenitsch H., Marianecci C., Pozzi D., and Caracciolo G.
Structural stability and increase in size rationalize the efficiency of lipoplexes in serum. (2009)
Langmuir, 25(5): 3013-3021.
28) Pozzi D. *, Caracciolo G. *, Caminiti R., Candeloro De Sanctis S., Amenitsch H., Marchini C.*,
Montani M., and Amici A. Toward the Rational Design of Lipid Gene Vectors: Shape Coupling
between Lipoplex and Anionic Cellular Lipids Controls the Phase Evolution of Lipoplexes and the
Efficiency of DNA Release. (2009) Applied Materials & Interfaces, 1(10): 2237-2249.
*corresponding authors.
29) Quaglino E., Mastini C., Amici A., Marchini C., Montani M., Iezzi M., De Giovanni C., Lollini PL., Masucci G., Forni G., and Cavallo F. A better immune reaction to Erbb-2 tumors is elicited in
mice by DNA vaccines encoding rat/human chimeric proteins. (2010) Cancer Res., 70(7): 26042612.
30) Pozzi D., Marianecci C., Carafa M., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A., and Caracciolo G.
Programmed packaging of multicomponent envelope-type nanoparticle system for gene delivery.
(2010) Appl. Phys. Lett., 96 (18), art. n. 183702.
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31) Marchini C., Pozzi D., Montani M., Alfonsi C., Amici A., Amenitsch H., Candeloro De Sanctis S.,
Caracciolo G. Tailoring Lipoplex Composition to the Lipid Composition of Plasma Membrane: A
Trojan Horse for Cell Entry? (2010) Langmuir, 26(17):13867-73.
32) Marchini C., Montani M., Konstantinidou G., Mannucci S., Orrù R., Ramadori G., Gabrielli F.,
Baruzzi A., Berton G., Merigo F., Fin S., Orlando F., Iezzi M., Bisaro B., Sbarbati A., Zerani M.,
Galiè M., and Amici A. Mesenchymal/stromal gene expression signature relates to basal-like
breast cancers, identifies bone metastasis and predicts resistance to therapies. (2010) PLoS ONE,
5(11): e14131. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014131.
33) Pozzi D., Amenitsch H., Marchini C., Caracciolo G. Phase diagram of 3β-[N-(N,Ndimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl]-cholesterol
dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine/DNA
complexes suggests strategies for efficient lipoplex transfection. (2010) Appl. Phys. Lett., 96 (18):
art. n.183703.
34) Pozzi D., Caracciolo G., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A., Callipo L.,Capriotti A. L., Cavaliere
C., Laganà A. Surface adsorption of protein corona controls the cell uptake mechanism in efficient
cationic liposome/DNA complexes in serum. (2010) J. Control. Release, 148: e94-e95.
35) Pozzi D., Mariannecci C., Carafa M., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici A., Caracciolo G.
Programmed packaging of multicomponent envelope-type nanoparticle system (MENS). (2010) J.
Control. Release, 148: e87-e89.
36) Marchini C., Pozzi D., Montani M., Alfonsi C., Amici A., Candeloro De Sanctis S., Digman MA.,
Sanchez S., Gratton E., Amenitsch H., Fabbretti A., Gualerzi CO., Caracciolo G. Role of
temperature-independent lipoplex-cell membrane interactions in the efficiency boost of
multicomponent lipoplexes. (2011) Cancer Gene Ther., 18(8):543-52. doi: 10.1038/cgt.2011.12.
37) Marchini C., Gabrielli F., Iezzi M., Zenobi S., Montani M., Pietrella L., Kalogris C., Rossini A.,
Ciravolo V., Castagnoli L., Tagliabue E., Pupa SM., Musiani P., Monaci P., Menard S., Amici A.
The human splice variant Δ16HER2 induces rapid tumor onset in a reporter transgenic mouse.
(2011) PLoS ONE, 6 (4): e18727.
38) Caracciolo G., Pozzi D., Capriotti A., Marianecci C., Carafa M., Marchini C., Montani M., Amici
A., Amenitsch H., Digman M., Sanchez S., Gratton E., Laganà A. Factor determining the superior
performance of LPD nanoparticles over lipoplexes. (2011) J. Med. Chem., 54(12):4160-4171.
39) Cardarelli F., Pozzi D., Bifone A., Marchini C., Caracciolo G. (2012) Cholesterol-dependent
macropinocytosis and endosomal escape control the transfection efficiency of lipoplexes in CHO
Living Cells. Mol. Pharm., 9 (2): 334-340.
40) Pozzi D., Marchini C., Cardarelli F., Amenitsch H., Garulli C., Bifone A., Caracciolo
G..Transfection efficiency boost of cholesterol-containing lipoplexes. (2012) BBA
Biomembranes, 1818 (9): 2335-2343.
41) Bisaro B., Montani M., Konstantinidou G., Marchini C., Pietrella L., Iezzi M., Galiè M., Orso F.,
Camporeale A., Colombo S.M., Di Stefano P., Tornillo G., Camacho-Leal M.P., Emilia Turco,
Taverna D., Cabodi S., Defilippi P., Amici A. (2012) p130CAS/Cyclooxygenase-2 axis in the
control of mesenchymal plasticity of breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Research, 14(5):R137.
42) Gabrielli F., Salvi R., Garulli C., Kalogris C., Arima S., Tardella L., Montani M., Monaci P., Pupa
S., Tagliabue E., Montani M., Quaglino E., Curcio C., Marchini C.*, Amici A.* (2013)
Identification of relevant conformational epitopes on the HER2 oncoprotein by using Large
Fragment Phage Display (LFPD). PLoS ONE, (3):e58358. *corresponding authors.
43) Marchini C., Kalogris C., Garulli C., Pietrella L., Gabrielli F., Curcio C., Quaglino E., Cavallo F.,
Amici A. (2013) Tailoring DNA Vaccines: Designing Strategies Against HER2-Positive Cancers.
Front Oncol. 3:122.
Book Chapters:
1) Schubert P., Ogata T., Marchini C., Kataoka K. Homeostatic effects of adenosine on potentially
neurotoxic glial cell activation. Neurochemistry (A. Teelken and J. Korf, Eds), pp. 83-90, Plenum
Press, New York, 1997.
2) Schubert P., Ogata T., Miyazaki H., Marchini C., Ferroni S., Rudolphi K. Pathological immunoreactions of glial cells in Alzheimer’s disease and possible sites of interference. Alzheimer’s
disease-from basic research to clinical applications (H.-J. Gertz and Th Arendt, Eds.), p.p. 167174, Springer-Verlag/Wien, 1998.
3) Bruni P., Pisani M., Amici A., Marchini C., Montani M., Francescangeli O. Structure and
function of self-assembled liposome-DNA-metal complexes for gene transfer. (2006) Highlights,
European Syncrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble (Fr): 35-37.
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4) Marchini C.*, Pietrella L., Kalogris C., Garulli C., Gabrielli F., Quaglino E., Iezzi M., Pupa S.M.,
Tagliabue E., Amici A. HER2-Driven carcinogenesis: new mouse models for novel
immunotherapies. (2012) Oncogene, InTech (In press) (*Equally contributed).
List of Patents:
2003
Italian Patent: MI2003A001942; 09.10.03; ”DNA codificante p185neu e suoi usi terapeutici".
Inventors: A. Amici, F. Cavallo, G. Forni e C. Marchini.
2004
Italian Patent: MI2004A001965; 15.10.2004; ”DNA codificante forme tronche e chimeriche della
proteina p185neu e suoi usi terapeutici”. Inventors: A. Amici, F. Cavallo, C. Marchini, E.
Quaglino e G. Forni.
2005
European PCT: WO 2005/039618 A1; 06.05.2005; ”p185neu-Encoding DNA and therapeutical
uses thereof”. Inventors: A. Amici, F: Cavallo, G. Forni e C. Marchini.
2006
European PCT: WO 2006/040660 A2; 20-04-06; “Plasmids coding for p185neu protein sequence
variants and therapeutic uses thereof”. Inventors: A. Amici, F. Cavallo, C. Marchini, E. Quaglino e
G. Forni.
2009
United States Patent US 2009/0214577 A1; 27.08.2009; “Plasmids coding for p185neu protein
sequence variants and therapeutic uses thereof”. Inventors: A. Amici, F. Cavallo, C. Marchini, E.
Quaglino e G. Forni. (Extension of the European PCT Europeo WO 2006/040660 A2).
2010
United States Patent US7,795,016 B2; 14.09.2010; “p185neu-Encoding DNA and therapeutical
uses thereof”. Inventors: A. Amici, F: Cavallo, G. Forni e C. Marchini. (Extension of the European
PCT WO 2005/039618 A1).
2010
Italian Patent: TO2009A000028; 15.01.2010; “Costrutto di acido nucleico, vettore e vaccino a
DNA includenti detto construtto” Inventors: F. Cavallo, G. Forni, R.A. Calogero, C. Marchini e A.
Amici.
2011
Italian Patent: MI2011A002254; 13.12.2011; “Libreria fagica di frammenti della proteina HER2”
Inventors: F. Gabrielli, C. Marchini, M. Montani, P. Monaci, A. Amici.
2012
Italian Patent: RM2012A000480; “Nanoparticelle lipidiche multicomponenti e procedimenti per la
loro preparazione” Inventors: G. Caracciolo, D. Pozzi, C. Marchini, A. Amici.
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