Lidia Pieri

Dieter Weinand

Emiliano Biasini

Prof. Biasini received a broad education in pharmacology, biochemistry, molecular biology and neurobiology, with specific training in various aspects of neurodegenerative disorders. During his postdoctoral training at Washington University in St Louis, at the Mario Negri Institute in Milan, and later as a junior faculty at Boston University School of Medicine, he employed a variety of techniques of biochemistry and biophysics to elucidate basic principles of protein aggregation in several model systems, including cultured cell lines, primary neurons, neural stem cells and transgenic mice.

For the last 8 years, as a group leader at the Italian National Institute of Health, and later as an Associate Professor at the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, he built a team of young researchers with expertise in the fields of computational chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics and neurobiology. Work in the Biasini’s laboratory covers a wide spectrum of topics related to prions and amyloids, across physiology and disease, with the ultimate objective to define novel therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative disorders.

In 2017, Prof. Biasini co-invented the PPI-FIT technology with Prof. Faccioli and co-founded Sibylla Biotech S.R.L. to exploit the commercial potential of the invention.

Roberto dalla Marina

After one decade of experience mostly in Switzerland at CERN (Geneva, CH), CSEM SA (Neuchâtel, CH) and Colibrys SA (Neuchâtel, CH), where he started working as a researcher and then moved to managerial positions, in 2003 he accepted the position of VP Business Development and Director of Technology Innovation of Olivetti I-Jet SpA (Ivrea, TO).

In 2007 he became General Manager of the Cluster in Molecular Biomedicine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a public-private initiative focused on linking together research centers, companies, institutions and financing bodies in the field of personalized medicine. From 2010 till 2017 he became Partner of AlAdInn Ventures Fund, Friulia Veneto Sviluppo SGR SpA, as well as Deputy Chairman of AREA Science Park – an Italian National Research body dedicated to Technology Transfer – as well as GM of Innovation Factory, its first mile company incubator.

Today he continues to serve as Board Member in several companies and foundations, among those, the Bruno Kessler Foundation in Trento, Italy. He holds a Laurea cum laude in Physics from the University of Trieste (I) and a Ph.D. in Physics from ETH Zürich (CH), is co-author of more than hundred scientific papers and he keeps teaching finance and innovation in some universities and institutions in Italy. In 2015 he won the AIFI-EY “Claudio Dematté Price – Private Equity of the Year” for the best Italian Early Stage operation.

Ward Capoen

Bruno Montanari

Marianne Bjordal

Giovanni Spagnolli

Tania Massignan

Dr. Massignan received a broad education in biochemistry and neurobiology, with specific expertise in various aspects of neurodegenerative disorders. Between 2005 and 2010, as a Ph.D. student in Neuroscience at The Open University of London (UK), she investigated the impact on cellular homeostasis of a mutant form of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). This work generated the first experimental evidence about the existence of a specific cytotoxic feedback loop initiated by the intracellular accumulation of mutant PrP molecules.

Between 2006 and 2007, as part of her Ph.D. training, Dr. Massignan visited the laboratory of Prof. David A. Harris at Washington University in St Louis, where she continued to study prion diseases by characterizing the neurotoxicity of another PrP mutant, called ΔCR, which causes neonatal lethality in transgenic mice. Her research identified a specific cytotoxic effect of the ΔCR protein and defined a completely novel cellular assay (DBCA) for studying the toxicity of mutant forms of PrP. In 2010, Dr. Massignan was recruited as a post-doctoral fellow at Boston University School of Medicine.

Her project employed the DBCA as a primary assay to carry out a large drug screening campaign aimed at identifying small molecules capable of suppressing mutant PrP toxicity. This work led to the identification of a number of candidate anti-prion compounds currently under investigation and development. For such an achievement, Dr. Massignan received the Bioeconomy Award 2014.

Since 2015, sponsored by fellowships from the Fondazione Veronesi and the Telethon Foundation, Dr. Massignan joined as a Senior Scientist at the Laboratory of Prions & Amyloids at the Department of CIBIO, University of Trento. Her current research covers a broad spectrum of topics related to prions and amyloids but maintains the ultimate objective of defining novel therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative disorders.

Serena Bonifati

Dr. Bonifati’s scientific expertise lies at the interface between cancer biology and virology. She completed her Ph.D. in 2014 at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, where she worked on the development of novel anti-cancer strategies based on the oncolytic virus H-1PV. In 2015, she moved to the US to perform her post-doctoral training at the Ohio State University in Columbus.

In the past 5 years, her research has focused on elucidating the mechanisms of pathogenesis of retroviruses, particularly HIV-1 and HTLV-1. Her work contributed to the characterization of the molecular mechanisms by which the cellular restriction factor SAMHD1 controls innate immune responses to viral infections and inflammatory stimuli.

In her 8+ years of research experience in diverse therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, and virology, dr. Bonifati gained extensive expertise in various cellular and molecular biology techniques.

Laura Copat

Andrea Astolfi

Andrea Astolfi received MSc degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies (110/110 cum laude) in 2014 from University of Perugia where it was awarded as one of the best graduate students. In 2018, at the same University, he earned a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences. His PhD thesis work received the national award as the best PhD thesis in Medicinal Chemistry organized by Società Chimica Italiana (SCI) and the international Paul Ehrich MedChem Euro-PhD Network certificate for the excellence.

Along these years Andrea Astolfi acquired a strong experience in the application of computer-aided drug discovery (CADD) methodologies, both structure-based and ligand-based, spanning from protein structure analysis the design of virtual screening workflows.

This experience perfectly fit and integrate the multidisciplinary nature of the Sibylla Biotech S.R.L research pipeline.

Alberto Boldrini

Alberto Boldrini has a degree in Physics with a master in Quantitative and Computational Biology. His background combined with the interest in mathematics and computer science has allowed him to accumulate a wide experience in all the fields in which Sibylla Biotech focuses.

In particular, during his internship he tackled the protein folding problem employing molecular dynamics simulations and enanched sampling techniques at the University of Trento.

His strong experience in statistical mechanics, software development, data analysis and high performance computing makes him a key people in Sibylla multidisciplinary staff. He takes care of the development and innovation of our computational platform. He is also in charge of administering of the computing resources.

Luca Terruzzi

Luca Terruzzi graduated in Computer Science at the University of Trento, consolidating his knowledge about programming techniques and software design and development. To pursue his idea of exploring new areas in which to apply his expertise, he continued his education receiving a Master of Science degree in Quantitative and Computational Biology at the University of Trento, with particular focus on the field of biophysics.

These studies coupled with Luca’s passion gave him an interdisciplinary background in the fields of mathematics, physics, biology and computer science. He applied this knowledge during his internship and thesis work at the departments of Physics and Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento. This experience allowed him to deepen his understanding of advanced Molecular Dynamics techniques and data analysis tools, applied to the protein folding problem.

The multidisciplinary nature of his education with a strong computer science background make him a perfect choice for the cross-disciplinary research staff at Sibylla Biotech S.p.A.

Enrica Colasurdo

Enrica Colasurdo graduated in Physics at the University of Trento. Her passion for computer science and data analysis led her to approach computational studies in the field of biophysics during the Master in Quantitative and Computational Biology, gaining experience with molecular dynamics and enhanced sampling techniques applied to the protein folding problem.

Cristina Risueño Fernández

Cristina Risueño holds a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology (Universidad Europea, Spain, 2015), a master’s degree in Industrial Biotechnology (Universidad Complutense, Spain, 2017), and a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine (Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain, 2021).

During her doctoral studies, she aimed at understanding the biophysical mechanisms that make proteins respond to changes in pH. Her acquired experience in molecular dynamics simulations and other biophysical techniques (i.e. protein crystallography), combined with her background in biotechnology and biotechnological processes, makes her a good fit for the Sibylla’s Biotech team. Her multidisciplinary experience allows her to provide a holistic view about the challenges of developing new therapies implementing Sibylla’s technology.

Cassiano Langini

Alexandros Patsilinakos

Alexandros Patsilinakos holds a master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Sapienza – University of Rome. His background encompasses ligand-based and structure-based drug design, ab initio quantum chemistry and machine learning.

During his 10+ years of experience in academia and the pharmaceutical industry, Alexandros has developed a deep knowledge of molecular modeling, cheminformatics, and bioinformatics applied to drug discovery. In addition, he also has hands-on experience in entrepreneurship, with a past as company CTO.

His work is focused on developing and applying computational methods for predicting biological and physicochemical properties, the design of chemical libraries, the exploration of the chemical space, ADMET in silico models and AI-enabled workflows to accelerate hit identification and lead optimization.

Alexandros holds a rich academic record, with 20+ peer-reviewed publications and numerous attendances to international conferences, where he strengthened a network of academic and industry collaborations.

Leda Bencheva

Leda Bencheva obtained an MSc in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology followed by a PhD in “Design, synthesis and characterization of bioactive molecules” from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy. During her 15 years of career as both synthetic and medicinal chemist, she gained an interdisciplinary background and detailed on-the-job knowledge of the modern drug discovery process, a deep understanding of biological aspects and DMPK.
In addition, she also acquired hands-on experience in patent writing, Markush structure design and patent busting.
Leda has made fundamental contributions to 6 patents, and her thorough work resulted in several publications.
Her work is focused on the early phase drug discovery process, PK profiling, PK/PD analysis and formulation development.

Carmine Varricchio

Carmine Varricchio earned a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Siena. Soon after graduating, he joined the IRBM medicinal chemistry team, where he worked on several drug discovery projects, ranging from hit identification to lead optimization. In 2016, he successfully applied for a multidisciplinary PhD program at Cardiff University. During his doctoral research, he designed, synthesized, and evaluated novel compounds capable of rescuing cells suffering from mitochondrial dysfunctions. After completing his PhD, he conducted post-doctoral research in Professor Andrea Brancale’s group, focusing on in silico design of new small molecules with potential biological activities, including anticancer, antiviral, and anti-neurodegenerative agents. He has authored 20+ peer-reviewed papers and participated in several international scientific conferences. In 2019, he received the ISSF3 Consolidator Award, a grant funded by the Wellcome Trust to support the independent careers of early-career researchers.

Fabiana Russo

Fabiana Russo earned a Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology, and she is a PhD candidate in Clinical and Experimental Medicine at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

During her Ph.D. research and participation in industrial research and Experimental Development projects, she worked on the development of stereoselective synthetic strategies and analytical methods based on High-Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for a chemical-pharmaceutical characterization of active ingredients of Cannabis Sativa L. extracts and of new psychotropic substances.

As a junior scientist in the Sibylla medicinal chemistry team, she supports drug discovery activities by patent drafting, compound management, and synthetic pathway design.

Irina Stefanelli

Irina earned an M.Sc. in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Naples Federico II in 2019. During her master’s thesis, she approached medicinal chemistry by designing and synthesizing selective hexapeptide ligands for the tumor-promoting TRF2 protein.

In 2022, Irina earned a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Naples Federico II. She collaborated with Dompè Pharmaceutical S.p.A. to discover promising antivirals by exploring a structure-based approach through the innovative Exsclate platform. In parallel, she explored peptide chemistry to synthesize novel peptidomimetics with potent broad-spectrum activity against different human Coronaviruses.

For six months, Irina carried out research at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, an opportunity to interface with anticancer research, focusing on designing and synthesizing small-molecule therapeutics against pediatric brain tumors.

During these years, Irina gained competencies in medicinal chemistry by exploring different drug discovery approaches, besides becoming confident with cutting-edge synthetic strategies.
Irina contributes to Sibylla’s drug discovery activities by supporting the design of synthetic pathways and by dealing with compound management workflows.

Emilia Cassese

Emilia graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Naples Federico II in 2021 with an experimental thesis in Medicinal Chemistry titled: “Design and synthesis of novel potent SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro inhibitors“ published in Eur. J. Med. Chem. (110/110 cum laude).

In September 2021 Emilia won a fellowship founded by “Fondazione Ricerca Fibrosi Cistica” for the identification of HDAC6 inhibitors to treat Cystic Fibrosis. The work has been published in two international journals. In January 2022, she won a second fellowship founded by “Ospedale San Raffaele” for the discovery of peptidomimetic inhibitors with potent broad-spectrum activity against different human Coronaviruses.

In November 2022, Emilia started her industrial Ph.D. program in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Naples “Federico II” in collaboration with Sibylla Biotech working on the discovery of new antibacterial agents with a novel mechanism of action based on the PPI-FIT approach against Superbugs to fight the antibiotic resistance. During her ongoing doctoral research, Emilia is acquiring skills in computational chemistry and molecular modeling to be integrated with experimental methodologies, to verify the in silico predictions. Emilia has a great passion for Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Synthesis, and Drug Design.

Erika Primavera

Erika Primavera earned a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (score 110/110 cum laude) from the University of Perugia in 2022. Throughout her academic journey, Erika demonstrated an unwavering passion for the pharmaceutical field, showcasing her dedication through internships in both an organic synthesis laboratory and a hospital. Later on, fuelled by her fervour for innovation and technology, Erika directed her academic focus towards the intersection of computer science and medicinal chemistry, culminating in her experimental thesis in the realm of Computer Aided Drug Discovery (CADD).

Since November 2022, she has embarked on a new chapter as a PhD student in Pharmaceutical Sciences (curriculum Early Phase Drug Discovery) at the University of Perugia, with the support of a scholarship co-financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP, funded by European Union) and the company Sibylla Biotech. Indeed, her doctoral project is a collaborative venture between the University of Perugia and Sibylla Biotech. The primary objective of this joint effort is the identification of folding interfering degraders (FIDs) targeting a mutated form of the AKT1 protein, which is implicated in rare pediatric disease known as Proteus Syndrome. Over the span of three years, Erika is set to immerse herself in an enriching experience, working closely with Sibylla Biotech to expand and deepen her expertise in cutting-edge drug discovery technologies.

Lars Meuser

Lars Meuser earned a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Sciences (Physics and Physical Chemistry) from ETH Zürich. In his studies, he focused on theoretical physics with an emphasis on quantum mechanical simulation techniques, statistical physics, and quantum computing.
He did his Master’s thesis at the University of Cambridge, where he conducted simulations and studies on chaotic quantum mechanical systems. During a research project at IBM Research, he gained practical experience in quantum computing for drug development.
He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Milano-Bicocca together with Sibylla Biotech. His project aims to integrate quantum computing into the drug discovery pipeline. With expertise in simulation techniques, quantum computing, and a background in chemistry, he is well-equipped for the challenging task of preparing the company for a potential quantum era.

Simone Lanfredini

Simone Lanfredini holds a Master’s degree in Biotechnology Applied to Human and Animal Health from the University of Turin. He earned his PhD in Clinical and Experimental Medicine at the Università del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro,” where he established international collaborations with the European Cancer Stem Cell Institute (ESCRI) during his doctoral program. Subsequently, as a Postdoc in the Professor Girish Patel Lab at ESCRI, his research focused on skin cancer and cancer stem cells, both in-vitro and in-vivo.

In 2017, Simone Lanfredini was recruited as a senior postdoc by Professor Eric O’Neill at the University of Oxford’s Department of Oncology. There, he established the Pancreatic Orthotopic Preclinical mouse model and obtained UK certification as a small animal surgery trainer. His research was dedicated to modulate the pancreatic tumour microenvironment through the synergy of MRI-guided radiotherapy and immunotherapies in preclinical contexts.

His research led to 10+ peer-reviewed articles in high relevance journals such as Gastroenterology and Journal of Clinical Oncology. After more than 7 years of international academic research was recruited in 2021 as Principal Scientist by Novartis to join the Preclinical Pharmacology group at the Radioligand Therapy Platform, based in Ivrea (TO-Italy). He closely collaborated with external Contract Research Organizations (CROs) as a Preclinical Study Monitor.

His work is focused on early phase drug discovery closely monitoring in-vivo studies in collaboration with external CRO.

Maria Letizia Barreca

Prof. Barreca has 25-years of experience in the field of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, and her main topics include infectious, neurodegenerative, and inflammatory diseases, and more recently cancer. She started her career at the University of Messina, where she founded a research laboratory in the field of computational chemistry applied to drug discovery. In 2000−2001 Prof. Barreca was Visiting Scientist at the University of Houston and in 2007 she moved to the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of University of Perugia, where she set up and led the I2D Lab (In silico Drug Discovery Laboratory) and is now Associate Professor.

She has successfully collaborated on different multidisciplinary national and international projects where she made a crucial contribution to the rational identification of small molecules possessing the desired biological activity. Prof. Barreca has received awards and acknowledgments for her scientific activity, including the prestigious “Best Young Researcher in Medicinal Chemistry” by the Italian Chemical Society (Farmindustria Prize). She is also a medchem consultant for two global healthcare companies (this consultancy is privileged and confidential)

Prof. Barreca has identified the bioactive small molecules which validated the innovative drug discovery protocol exploited by Sibylla Biotech S.R.L., which she co-founded in 2017.

Pietro Faccioli

Pietro Faccioli received his PhD in physics from Stony Brook University (USA) with a thesis in theoretical subnuclear physics. Later, he became a postdoctoral fellow at the European Centre for Nuclear Physics and Related Areas. In 2005, at the age of 30, he was permanently hired by University of Trento, where he is now Associate Professor and PI of a scientific initiative in biophysics of the Trento Institute for Nuclear and Subnuclear Physics (INFN-TIFPA).

In 2005 he realized that a specific mathematical formalism used in subatomic physics could be adapted and extended in order to represent rare conformational transitions of macromolecules. This observation led to the creation of an interdisciplinary research line aiming at investigating the dynamics of biological molecules. In over 15 years of dedicated research, his group developed, validated and applied new powerful algorithms, which made it possible for the first time to simulate the folding of proteins consisting of hundreds of amino acids, using state of the art atomically resolved models.

This combination of mathematical and computational methods provided the driving technology paving the way to co-inventing a new approach to rational drug discovery. In 2017, he co-founded Sibylla Biotech S.R.L. to exploit the commercial potential of this invention.

In recent years, he has started a new research endeavor aiming at developing a new generation of molecular simulation methods based on integrating statistical mechanics, chemical modeling, and artificial intelligence with quantum computing.

Graziano Lolli

Prof. Lolli started his scientific career in the field of Protein Chemistry and Proteomics to move then to Biophysical Chemistry and X-ray Crystallography.

His research activities focused on oncogenic proteins and epigenetics, participating in or directing drug development campaigns both in pharmaceutical companies and in academia. His multifaceted experience matured in highly competitive and production-driven environments having been employed by Pharmacia Corporation, University of Oxford, Merck&co., University of Padua and University of Zurich, in chronological order. The excellence of his work was recognized by the Federation of the European Biochemical Societies with the Distinguished Young Investigator Award. He currently directs a research team at the Dept. of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology, University of Trento, where he is Assistant Professor, developing novel drug candidates inhibiting protein kinases and bromodomains with a clear role in the pathogenesis of cancer, inflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. The laboratory employs a complete set of biochemical, biophysical and structural techniques.

His interest in fully exploring the targetable space drove its decision of founding Sibylla Biotech S.R.L., where the structure-based approach will profit from the revolutionary target identification protocol.

Letizia Lazzaro

Letizia Lazzaro obtained a master’s degree in chemistry specializing in physical chemistry from La Sapienza – University of Rome. During her 10+ years scientific career in industry, she worked at Eurofins S.p.A. as an analyst of raw material and final drugs, taking care of the development and validation of GMP analytical methods, then she moved to “Centro Sviluppo Materiali” working as Researcher first, in the chemistry lab, and then in the Surface Treatments and Corrosion department. In the last 8 years, she has been involved in several projects as Compound Manager supervisor in the Medicinal Chemistry and Peptide units at IRBM S.p.A, increasing her interdisciplinary background in drug discovery. In particular, she managed the internal compound collection (more than 320K compounds) and its enrichment based on analysis of the chemical space and physicochemical properties for the selection of new compounds and coordinated all the related activities from compound QC, data management, purifications of finals compounds/peptides, sample preparation, distributions, orders, and purchases.

Sophie El-Hayek

Sophie El-Hayek has a Bachelor of Science in Bioinformatics (Lebanese American University – Byblos, Lebanon) and a Master of Science degree in Quantitative and Computational Biology (University of Trento – Italy).

Her scientific background and interest in solving complex strategic and business challenges led her to an internship at F. Hoffmann-La Roche. There, she got familiar with the frameworks for strategic initiatives and commercialization planning activities of medications in their neuropsychiatric portfolio. Also, her passion for driving innovative research and medical advances drove her to another internship at Orobix Life, where she investigated artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in drug discovery and development. In this context, Sophie was involved in testing unsupervised learning approaches for patient stratification for precision medicine.

She is curious, ambitious, willing to learn and invest in her growth, and a team player that enjoys connecting with others and collaborating.

Lorenzo Abrandi