Lab Members

Rosalba Giugno got her PhD in Computer Science with tutors prof. VS Subrahmanian (University of Maryland) and prof. Dennis Shasha (New York University). Since she moved in Verona 2016, she leads a research group of 2 post-docs, 4 PhD students, and 10 undergraduate students. She is the Director of Infolife laboratory made by 35 research Italian Universities Units. She is the director of the International Master in Medical Bioinformatics at university of Verona. She coordinates the Bioinformatics units of two European Projects on single cell analysis for neurodegenerative diseases. She is the Bioinformatician editor of Elsevier Information Systems and other international journals. She has established collaborations with Harvard Medical School, New York University, Insitute of Oncology Research in Bellinzona (IOR) and the University of Eastern Finland.

Vincenzo Bonnici is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Verona. He received his BA and MA in Computer Science at the University of Catania. He has a background in artificial intelligence and graph theory, and he received a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Verona with a thesis in Bioinformatics. His PhD thesis was titled "Informational and relational analysis of biological data" reflecting the wide range of interest of this research in the field. He is currently involved in developing methodologies for searching in relational data, such as networks and NoSQL graph databases. Computational analysis of omic data, from genomic sequences to biological networks, and the integration of the multiomics scene by means of information theory and graph theory is a fundamental topic of his research. Transversal aspects of his research are the integration of big quantities of data and the developing of parallel solutions.

Antonino Aparo is a PostDoctoral researcher at the Computer Science Department, University of Verona. He got his MSc in Computer Science at the University of Catania with a thesis on the implementation of a recommendation algorithm for the prediction of drug-target interactions in a distributed environment. He has a solid background in multiple Computer Science disciplines including: data analisys and management, graph algoritms, computational analisys of omic data, and distributed systems. During his PhD he developed a new signal detection algoritms to discover adverse drug reactions from Surveillance Database. For his Postdoctoral training he is currently working on the prioritization of genomic variations in relation to neurodegenerative diseases and the mechanisms aimed to regulate them.

Simone Avesani is a Computer Science PhD student at University of Verona. He graduated in Bioinformatics in 2018 and during his Master Degree in Medical Bioinformatics, successfully achieved in autumn 2020, he started working in the Infomics Lab. His research is focused on the analysis of trascriptomic and genomic data, with emphasis on single-cell analysis. He is a team partner of European Union’s Horizon 2020 research project TUBE, focused on the study of adverse health effects of pollutants and their possible involvement in the Alzheimer’s disease development. Simone is also doing his Ph.D in collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland under the supervision of Professor Katja Kanninen. In his free time he enjoys hiking, cooking, playing basketball and piano.

Claudia Mengoni is the holder of a research scholarship at the University of Verona. She obtained a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Trento and specialized with a MSc in Bioinformatics at Ghent University. Her research is focused on facilitating the integration of multi-omics data through the development of a network-based tool. She is team partner of ADAIR, a European Union's JPND project focused on unraveling the link between air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease development. In her free time she enjoys doing outdoor activities, photographing, and going to movie theaters.

Dorotea Savariso is a researcher at the University of Verona. She obtained her BSc in Bioinformatics at Sapienza, University of Rome, and her MSc in Medical Bioinformatics at the University of Verona. Her Bachelor Thesis project was co-supervised by prof. Lorenzo Farina (Sapienza) and Dr. Walter Sanseverino (Sequentia Biotech S.L.), and she developed an index of dysbiosis to diagnose or predict inflammatory bowel diseases based on gut microbiome composition. Her Master Thesis project was co-supervised by prof. Rosalba Giugno (University of Verona) and Dr. Luca Pinello (Harvard Medical School), and she worked mainly on computational methods to predict the impact of genetic variants on regulatory DNA regions. Her interests in research focus on personalised medicine. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music and learning new languages.

Michele is a PhD student in Computer Sciences at the University of Verona. After a Bachelor degree in Biomolecular Sciences and Technologies and a MSc in Cellular and Molecular Biotechnologies, he undertook another MSc in Quantitative and Computational Biology, all in University of Trento. His research interest is focused on bio-computational approaches towards neurodegenerative diseases, ranging from neuro-imaging data analysis to single-cell transcriptomic analyses. During his PhD, under the co-supervision of Rosalba Giugno and Stefano Tamburin, he works on a novel data infrastructure to analyze motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease. In his spare time, he plays wheelchair rugby and he enjoys chess, watching movies and hanging out with friends. He is also involved in projects to sensibilize people towards disability.

Manuel Tognon is a PhD student at the University of Verona (Italy) in the Department of Computer Science. He received his BSc in Bioinformatics and MSc in Medical Bioinformatics from the University of Verona. His research interests cover the development of novel computational methods and models to predict the impact of genetic variants on epigenetic elements and CRISPR off-targets. During his PhD, he is co-supervised by prof. Rosalba Giugno (University of Verona) and prof. Luca Pinello (Harvard Medical School). In his free time, he enjoys visiting museums, playing soccer and watching the NFL.

Eva Viesi is a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Verona. She received her MSc in Medical Bioinformatics at the University of Verona. Her research interests focus on the analysis of genomic, transcriptomic and neuroimaging data and the implementation of machine learning strategies. Her PhD project follows the green and digital thematic areas identified by the Smart Specialisation Strategy and the PNR and focuses on the design and implementation of chemoinformatics and artificial intelligence methods for the prediction and analysis of air pollutants and their impact on neurodegenerative diseases. She works in collaboration with the Ri.MED Foundation, based in Palermo, and the University of Eastern Finland under the supervision of Professor Katja Kanninen. In her free time, she enjoys visiting new places, hiking, cooking, playing badminton and dancing.