Our team
Cernais Team
Andrea Cerase
Drug-discovery & RNA biology
Jonathan Fiorentino
Machine Learning Bioinformatics
Gian Gaetano Tartaglia
Computational RNA biology Neural network Bioinformatics
Paola Bonfanti
Andrea Cerase
Jonathan Fiorentino
Gian Gaetano Tartaglia
Paola Bonfanti
Andrea Cerase
His quest for knowledge led him to the UK, where he collaborated with Prof. Neil Brockdorff at Imperial College London and later at the University of Oxford. Here, Andrea's research focused on unraveling the mysteries of X chromosome inactivation, shedding light on the role of Xist and Polycomb Repressive Complexes. Returning to Italy, Andrea continued his academic pursuits at the EMBL Rome, investigating the initiation phase of mouse X inactivation.
In 2018, he established his own laboratory at Queen Mary University of London, known as the Cerase Lab. In 2022 Andrea relocated his lab at the university of Pisa, Italy. The lab's research spans epigenetics, X chromosome inactivation, and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), with a particular emphasis on understanding neurodevelopmental disorders. Outside the lab, Andrea is dedicated to science communication and serves as an editor and referee for numerous journals and funding bodies. He is also an associate fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), reflecting his commitment to education and mentorship.
Jonathan Fiorentino
Jonathan studied theoretical physics at the University of Rome Sapienza, Italy. During his Master’s he developed a deep interest into biology, leading him to pursue a PhD in Physics from University of Rome Sapienza, Italy, working on physico-mathematical models about the regulation of gene expression. He completed the PhD in 2019. At the end of 2018 he moved to the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Germany, working as a postdoc at the Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells on cellular decision making in embryonic development using physical models and single-cell transcriptomic data.
During this period, he was awarded an Add-on Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Life Science from the Joachim Herz Stiftung. Since 2021 he is a postdoc in the Lab of Prof. Gian Gaetano Tartaglia at the Center for Life Nano- & Neuro-Science, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy, where he is currently working on new quantitative algorithms for the prediction of molecular interactions using methods ranging from physics to machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Gian Gaetano Tartaglia
Gian Gaetano Tartaglia (GGT) studied theoretical Physics (University of Rome Sapienza, Italy) and Biochemistry (University of Zurich, Switzerland). After postdoctoral studies in Cambridge, United Kingdom (Chemistry Department), he became PI at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (Barcelona, Spain). In 2013, GGT was awarded a European Research Council grant for studies on the role of coding and noncoding RNAs in regulation of amyloid genes.
In 2014, he was tenured in Catalonia as ICREA professor of Life and Medical Sciences and in December 2018 became full professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biology at University La Sapienza. In 2019, GGT started to work at the Italian Institute of Technology where he currently leads the “RNA Systems Biology Lab”. In 2020, he was awarded an ERC grant for the study on the composition of phase-separated assemblies. Since September 2020, GGT is MAE (Member of Academia Europaea).
Paola Bonfanti
Paola Bonfanti has a Degree in International Marketing from the University of Pisa and a Master in Finance and Control. She is a chartered accountant and legal auditor in Pisa. She started her career in 1992 as Consultant for Foreign Markets development and f rom 1996 she has worked as a chartered accountant, mainly for SMEs, specialising in Company planning and strategy definition, company restructuring and reorganization, including bankruptcy proceedings, corporate management, tax and financial administration.
As a businesswoman she has been also covering different roles as advisor, temporary manager and trainer for networks enterprise and international marketing firms, first level controller for Europen Union Projects and Civil Ombudsman. She has been (2015 2016) in charge of the strategic planning for Companies in SAMBA, Sant’Anna Milky Business Angel s), a startup accelerator and a club investment. Partner and/or CEO of Innovative SME and Spin Off (LETOMEC s.r.l.). Legal Auditor of Innovative PMI.
