Alessandro Natoni

A professional and accomplished senior researcher with a proven track record in translational oncology. Highly skilled in a broad range of laboratory techniques including advanced flow cytometry and cell biology; has designed and delivered many projects in a pre-clinical setting as part of academic-pharma industry partnerships. He has been working at NUIGalway for 10 years where he successfully carried out several projects and accomplished many achievements such as the discovery and characterization of functional E-Selectin ligands on Myeloma cells and the complete elucidation of the mechanism of action of a novel Cdc7/CDK9 inhibitor in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) and Myeloma cells including the mechanisms of resistance in a co-culture setting. Before Ireland, he had worked at the prestigious Medical Research Council centre in Leicester, UK, under the supervision of Prof Gerald Cohen and sponsored by Novartis, where he examined the apoptotic inducing activity of a novel humanized monoclonal antibody against TRAIL receptor 2, LBY135, in combination with LBH589 (a novel HDAC inhibitor) in CLL. He was awarded a PhD in molecular virology at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, during which he had fully characterized the mechanisms of apoptosis induction by the Feline Calicivirus, a related virus of the human Norovirus. He now serves as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof O’Dwyer’s laboratory at NUIGalway where he has been developing for at least 5 years an interest in glycobiology and cancer. He has teaching skills and outstanding experience in supervising PhD students, Research Assistants and Undergraduates in their practical as well as written work. Among his achievements there are a Novartis Fellowship Award and a Patent for Treatment of proliferative disorders with a death receptor agonist.