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.

Samuele Cancellieri I am a Ph.D. student at the university of Verona, my focus of study is CRISPR/Cas, a new discovered technology to perform genetic engineering. I am developing a tool to perform discovery and assessment of CRISPR targets with a specific attention to personal variants and genomic annotations. In my free time I enjoy videogames, trekking and fishing.

Luca Giudice Luca Giudice Ph.D. Student of Verona university and Researcher of Eastern Finland University. Bioinformatician and data analyst. Three years spent abroad working for multiple research groups. I am specializing in graph theory and AI. I am passionate about network science applied to biomedicine and genomics. Their combination can revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. If I could tell you that, your genetic profile is similar to patients who managed and survived an early stage lung carcinoma, wouldn't you check your lung status? wouldn't you be prone of catching the cancer in the state from which the other patients survived? The idea is easy. The realization is challenging. This is the way. From HP to SW passing through LOTR, fantasy and sci-fi are my reality out of the binary Matrix which soundtrack is definitely Rock and roll..

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.

Manuel Tognon is a PhD student in Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science, University of Verona. He received is BSc in Bioinformatics and MSc in Medical Bioinformatics from the University of Verona. His research focuses on the development of computational methods to model and predict the epigenetic mechanisms regulating gene expression in human genome, on modeling and discovery of regulatory DNA motifs, and on new imaging genetics workflows to integrate genetic and neuroimaging data. During his PhD, he is co-supervised by prof. Rosalba Giugno (University of Verona) and Dr. Luca Pinello (Harvard Medical School). In his free time, he enjoys visiting fine arts museums, spending time with his two cats and rooting for the New England Patriots.

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.