Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt

Analysis of 2C- like cells in different species

I received the bachelor degree in Physics from the University of Torino, Italy in July 2017.  Then I obtained the master degree in Physics of Complex System from the same university in April 2019. In the summer 2018 I participated in the Summer Internship Programme at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich in Antonio Scialdone’s lab. I focused on cell competition in mouse embryo combining the analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data with mathematical modelling.
Cell competition is a biological process whereby cells eliminate their less fitted neighbours.
The purpose was to understand the transcriptional features of cells eliminated by competition and what are the roles of cell competition during mammalian development.
I went on working on the same project for my master thesis under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Scialdone and Prof. Michele Caselle. After receiving the master degree in Physics of Complex System from the University of Torino (April 2019), I moved to Munich, in Antonio Scialdone’ s lab, for starting the PhD in May 2019.
During the first months of the PhD, I completed the single-cell RNA-seq data analysis about the cell competition project (preprint available here). Since August 2019 I started a new project, in collaboration with Maria Elena Torres-Padilla’s lab, about data analysis on 2C- like cells (a rare population of cells displaying molecular features of totipotency that arises in pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cell culture) in different species.