Professional Activities

Military or Government Service:  Italian Military Service Obligations, 1983

Professional appointments:

2014-pres.	“Jack L. Titus” Endowed professorship Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2008-pres.	Professor (with tenure), Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2008-pres.	Professor (with tenure), Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology (joint appointment), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2008-pres.	Director, CTC Core facility, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
2005-2007	Professor (with tenure) and Director Tumor Biology Laboratories, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, SVM, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA
2001-2005	Associate Professor, Director Tumor Biology Laboratories, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, SVM, Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA
1999-2001	Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center, Houston, TX
1996-1999	Instructor, Department of Tumor Biology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
1991-1996	Research Associate, Department of Tumor Biology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
1989-1991	Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
1986-1989	Research Scientist, The University of Texas (M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center), Houston, TX
1984-1986	Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
1979-1982	Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Illinois Health Science Center, Chicago, IL
1979-1980	Teacher Inorganic Chemistry and General Biology, “G. Verga” Scientific Liceum, Pavia, Italy
1975-1979	Pre-doctoral Fellow, The University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.

Awards:

• Travel Award - UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center - The International Cancer Meeting, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 1998
• Travel Award - UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center -  The International Cancer Chemoprevention Meeting, Nice, France, 1998
• LSU-SVM Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, LSU-Baton Rouge, 2004
• Phi Kappa Phi Award for Research Excellence, The Honor Society, LSU-Baton Rouge, 2005 LSU-SVM best MS Thesis Award, mentor for Brian Murry, LSU-Baton Rouge, 2006
• LSU Dissertation Fellowship Award, mentor for Dr. Madhucchanda Roy, LSU-Baton Rouge, 2006 MAGI Association Scientific Award, Trento, Italy, 2009
• Cover picture and autobiography, The International Journal of Oncology, 2011 Research Award, The Avon Foundation for Women, New York, NY, 2011-2014 The BCM Alkek Award for Experimental Therapeutics, selected, 2014
• “Jack L. Titus” Endowed professorship Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, 2014 - present.

Editorial Boards (year to present):

• Honorary Editorial Board Member, Tumor Viruses, 2008
• Honorary Editorial Board Member, Phenotype and Gene Expression, 2008 Honorary Editorial Board Member, Eye and Brain, 2009
• Editorial Board Member, The Journal of Oncology, 2009 Editorial Board Member, Cancer Microenvironment, 2009
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Glycomics & Lipidomics, 2010 Editorial Board Member, The International Journal of Oncology, 2010 Editorial Board Member, Molecular Cancer, 2010
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Biological Medicine, 2010 Editorial Board Member, Experimental & Therapeutic Medicine, 2010 Editorial Board Member, Vascular Cell, 2010
• Associate Editor, Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 2009
• Editorial Board Member, American Journal of Cancer Research, 2011 Editorial Board Member, Cancer Biology & Therapy, 2011
• Editorial Advisory Panel, Treatment Strategy – US Oncology, 2011 Editorial Advisory Panel,  Journ. Clin. & Exp. Pathology, 2011 Editorial Board Member, Cancers, 2011
• Editorial Board Member, Cancer Letters, 2011
• Editorial Board Member, Neural Regeneration Research, 2011 Editorial Board Member, Clinical & Experimental Pathology, 2012
• Editorial Board Member, Journ. of Cancer Therapeutics & Research, 2012 Editorial Board Member, International Journ. of Cancer Studies & Research, 2012 
• Editorial Board Member, Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, 2012 Editorial Board Member, Clinical Cancer Drugs, 2012
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Vaccine & Immunotechnology, 2012 Editorial Panel, Member European Medical Journal – Oncology, 2012 Editorial Board Member, Oncology Discovery, 2012
• Editor, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, “Brain Metastasis”, Basel Switzerland by invitation, 2013/2014
• Editor, European Medical Journal – Oncology, 2013/2014
• Editorial Board Member, Journ. of Analytical Oncology, by invitation, 2013
• Senior Editor, Discoveries and Discoveries Reports journals, Harvard Medical School by invitation, 2013
• Editorial Board Member, Journ. of Gene Therapy, by invitation, 2013 Editorial Board Member, Archives of Cytology, by invitation, 2013
• Editorial Board Member, Molecular & Cellular Oncology, by invitation, 2013 Editor-in-Chief, The Journal of Gene Therapy, by invitation, 2013
• Editorial Board Member, Breast Cancer Reports, by invitation, 2014 Editorial Board Member, Annals of Cancer Research, by invitation, 2014
• Editorial Board Member, Clinical Journal of Allergy and Immunology, by invitation, 2014 Editorial Board Member, Journal of Circulating Biomarkers, 2014
• Editorial Board Member, Hyperplasia of Cancer, by invitation, 2014
• Editorial Board Member, International J. of Cancer Res. and Development, by invitation, 2014 Editor-in-Chief, Hyperplasia of Cancer, by invitation, 2014. 

Lectures (selected, 2005 to present):

• Invited Seminar Speaker, The University of Louisiana - Monroe, LA, 2005
• Invited Seminar Speaker, Center for Gene Therapy, LSU Health Science Center at Shreveport, LA, 2005
• Invited Seminar Speaker, 11th  World Congress on Advances in Oncology, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, 2006
• Seminar Speaker, Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2007
• Seminar Speaker, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 2007
• Seminar Speaker, The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 2008
• Seminar Speaker, The Dan Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 2008
• Seminar  Speaker,  Cellular  and  Molecular  Biology  program,  Graduate  School  of  Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 2008
• Seminar Speaker, “The Contribution of Italian Researchers in the World”, 4th Annual Conference of Italian researchers abroad, Houston, TX, 2008
• Seminar Speaker, “Mechanisms of brain metastasis”, Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 2009
• Seminar Speaker, “Heparanases and CTCs: a powerful duet in brain metastasis”  The Division of Pediatrics, UT  M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2009
• Seminar Speaker, “Molecular determinants of medulloblastoma tumorigenicity”, The Neurotumor Club, A.A.C.R. Meeting, Denver, CO, 2009
• Seminar Speaker, International Congress of the M.A.G.I. Association, Trento, Italy, 2009
• Seminar Speaker, “Heparanase: A critical determinant of breast cancer metastasis to brain”, International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment and Progression, Versailles, France, 2009
• Invited Session Chair (declined), “Cancer Drug Discovery and Development”, BIT World Cancer Congress, Shanghai, China, 2010
• Seminar Speaker, “Circulating Tumor Cells”, U.T. Health Science Center - San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, 2010 
• Invited  Seminar  Speaker  (declined),  “Circulating  tumor  cells:  basic  research  and  clinical applications”, The East Cancer Forum, Shanghai, China, 2010
• Speaker,“Heparanase  modulates sonic hedgehog and Wnt3a  signaling in human medulloblastoma cells”,The Neurotumor Club,  A.A.C.R. Meeting, Washington DC, 2010
• Seminar Speaker, Tumor Board Clinical Rounds, “Circulating tumor cells: blood will tell”, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, 2010
• Seminar  Speaker,  “Heparanase  mechanisms  in  brain  metastatic  breast  cancer”,  15th   World Congress on Advances in Oncology, Loutraki, Greece, 2010
• Invited Session Chair and Seminar Speaker (declined), “Heparanase and CTC: a powerful duet in brain-metastatic breast cancer“, BIT 4th Annual World Congress, Gene - 2010, Sanshui, Foshan, China, 2010
• Invited Seminar Speaker (declined), “Circulating tumor cells:  Important predictors of cancer metastasis”, 3rd Annual Congress of Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell, Shanghai, China, 2010
• Invited Seminar Speaker (declined), “MicroRNA-1258 suppresses breast cancer brain metastasis by targeting heparanase”, 3rd International Conference on Drug Discovery and Therapy, Dubai, 2011
• Speaker,  “MicroRNA-1258 suppresses breast cancer brain metastasis by targeting heparanase”, TuMIC – MRS meeting (New Concepts in Cancer Metastasis), Lisbon, Portugal, 2011
• Invited Seminar Speaker,  “Molecular profiling of brain-homing circulating tumor cells”, 16th World Congress on Advances in Oncology and 14th International Symposium on Molecular Medicine, Rhodes, Greece, 2011
• Invited Seminar Speaker,  “Molecular signatures of breast cancer brain-homing circulating tumor cells”, 3rd World CTC Summit, San Diego, CA, 2011
• Invited Speaker (declined), NIWeek 2011 Texas Day Scientific Conference, Austin, TX, 2011 Invited Seminar Speaker,  “Subsets and signatures of breast cancer brain - homing circulating
• tumor cells”,  Genelux Corporation in partnership with The University of California - San Diego, San Diego, CA, 2012
• Invited Seminar Speaker,  “Detection, isolation, and characterization of breast cancer brain- homing circulating tumor cells”, Circulating Cancer Biomarkers meeting, Washington, DC, 2012
• Invited Distinguished Speaker, “Combating brain metastasis: the CTC signature”, Cell Culture 2012 and Stem Cells 2012 Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2012
• Invited Seminar Speaker,  “Combating brain metastasis: the CTC signature”, Department of Physiology and Biophysics and the J.G. Brown Cancer Center, The University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 2012
• Invited Keynote Speaker, “Circulating tumor cells as a tool for assessing therapeutic potential of trials”, NanoCourse ”Design and implementation for first-in-human oncology trials”, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2012
• Selected  Speaker, “Combating  breast  cancer  brain  metastasis:                       the  CTC  signature“,  14th International Conference on Metastasis Research, The MRS Society, Brisbane, Australia, 2012
• Invited Keynote Speaker, “Circulating tumor cells: biology and therapeutic implications”, The ADAPT Cancer Congress, Washington, DC, 2012
• Seminar Speaker, “Cancer fatal circulation problem”, Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 2012
• Invited Keynote Speaker, “CTC Signatures in breast cancer brain metastasis: interrogating mechanisms of dormancy and colonization”. The 6th World CTC USA Summit, Washington (DC), 2012
• Invited Keynote Speaker,  “The biology and therapeutic utilities of circulating tumor cells”, Cell Culture 2013 and Stem Cells 2013 Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2013
• Invited Speaker: “CTCs: Critical tools for drug discovery and validation”  GlaxoSmithKline DPAc, Baylor College of Medicine, 2013
• Invited Seminar Speaker,  “Combating brain metastasis: the CTC signature”, The Neurotumor Club, 2013 AACR meeting, Washington (DC), 2013
• Invited Speaker: “Discovering new biomarkers in breast cancer brain metastasis: The CTC signature” The Avon Foundation Diagnostics/Biomarker Portfolio Evaluation Workshop, 2013
• Invited Keynote Speaker, “The identification and characterization of breast cancer CTCs competent for brain metastasis”, 18th World Congress on Advances in Oncology and 16th International Symposium on Molecular Medicine, Hersonissos, Crete,  Greece, 2013
• Invited Keynote Speaker, “The identification and characterization of breast cancer CTCs competent for brain metastasis”,  and CTC session Chairman,  CHI Next generation Dx therapeutics Summit, Washington, DC, 2013
• Invited Speaker,  “CTC Signatures in breast cancer brain metastasis:  interrogating mechanisms of dormancy and colonization”.The Cleveland Clinic/OSU, Cleveland, Ohio, 2013
• Invited Keynote Speaker,  “Circulating Tumor Cells of Breast Cancer: Basic Research and Clinical Implications”, Shanghai Gong Li Hospital, Shanghai, China, 2013
• Invited Keynote Speaker,  “Circulating Tumor Cells of Breast Cancer: Basic Research and Clinical Implications”, East Shanghai Cancer Forum, Shanghai, China, 2013
• Speaker, “The identification and characterization of breast cancer CTCs competent for brain metastasis”, 9th International Symposium on Minimal Residual Cancer, Paris, France, 2013
• Invited Speaker, “Char acterizing breast cancer CTC with brain metastatic competence”, Molecular Med Tri-Con Conference on CTCs and cell-free DNA, San Francisco, CA, 2014.
• Invited Keynote Speaker, “Circulating Tumor Cells of Breast Cancer: Basic Research and Clinical Applications” Select-Bio Symposium-cell culture track conference, Barcelona, Spain, 2014.
• Invited Keynote Speaker: “Characterizing breast cancer CTC subsets in mechanisms of tumor dormancy and metastatic colonization” 2014 Gordon Research Conference on Rare Cells in Circulation: CTCs and metastasis, Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Boston, MA, 2014.
• Invited Speaker, “The isolation and characterization of breast cancer CTC subsets for biomarker discovery” The University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 2014
• Invited Speaker: “Mechanisms of CTCs competent for breast cancer brain metastasis”, The 2014 Biology and Treatment of Metastatic Cancers Conference, El Jadida, Morocco, 2014.
• Invited Speaker: “Dissecting the biology of CTCs by DEPArray”, The DEPArray Working Group, Silicon Biosystems, Inc., Bologna, Italy, 2014
• Invited Speaker, “The isolation and characterization of breast cancer CTC subsets for biomarker discovery” The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 2015
• Invited Speaker, “The isolation and characterization of breast cancer CTCs”, The Markey Cancer Center- the University of Kentucky, Louisville, KY 2015.

Society memberships with offices held (year to present):

• Galveston Chapter of the Society of Neuroscience, 1984 American Society for Neurochemistry, 1984  International Society for Myochemistry, 1985 International Society for Neurochemistry1985
• Society for Neuroscience, 1986
• International Society for Neuro-Immunomodulation, 1989 International Brain Research Organization, 1990 American Association for Cancer Research, 1993
• International Society of Developmental Neuroscience, 1993 Society for Neuro-Oncology, 1999
• International Tumor Microenvironment Society, 2009 
• European Association for Cancer Research, 2009 

Teaching and academic activities:

• Lecturer, course 210101, U.T. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1997
• Member,  Faculty  Search  Committee  in  Cell/Molecular  Biology,  Department  of  Comparative Biomedical Sciences, LSU-Baton Rouge, 2002
• Lecturer,  “Cell  Biology  and  Histology”  course  (VMED  5126),  LSU-Baton  Rouge,  School  of Veterinary Medicine, 2002
• Lecturer, “Histology and Developmental Anatomy” course (VMED 5127), LSU-Baton Rouge, School of Veterinary Medicine, 2003 
• Started and coordinated a novel graduate course: “Cell & Biomedical Molecular Biology” (CBS 7104), School of Veterinary Medicine, LSU-Baton Rouge, 2004
• Lecturer, “Cell & Biomedical Molecular Biology” (CBS 7104), School of Veterinary Medicine, LSU- Baton Rouge, 2004
• Graduate Student Committee member, LSU-Baton Rouge, 2005
• Gave  several  presentations  to  CMB,  MBC  and  TBMM  graduate  students  programs,  Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), 2008 - present
• Member, Qualifying Examination Committee, BCM, 2008 Member, MCB Standing Examination Committee, BCM, 2008
• Reviewer, MCB program – graduate student abstracts submittal examination, BCM, 2008
• Interviewer, applicants to MCB, MBC, and TBMM graduate student programs, BCM, 2008 – present
• Member, Faculty Compensation Committee, BCM, 2013 – present.