Francesca Raimondo

Francesca Raimondo - Researcher


Department and institution: Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano Bicocca
francesca.raimondo@unimib.it
tel. +39 6448 8106
Curriculum Vitae
institutional profile page: UNIMIB
see also: PubMed, BOA

Keywords: Urinary Exosomes, Membrane Microdomains, Proteomics, Lipidomics, Biomarkers

Research interests

    -Lipidomics and Proteomics of renal cell carcinoma: evaluation of alterations in protein expression profile of subcellular fractions in tumoral tissue compared to normal one. Aim of this work is the identification of potential biomarker for early diagnosis of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC).
    -Study of urinary exosomes, nanovesicles (30-100 nm) released by every epithelial cell facing the urinary space, considered a source of potential biomarkers for kidney diseases. In particular, we are focusing our attention on RCC, an aggressive, highly metastatic, chemo- and radio-resistant tumour; Diabetic Nephropathy, the frequent diabetic outcome, which is associated with altered renal protein expression; hereditary tubulopathies, Bartter and Gitelman syndromes, which outset in fetal, neonatal and/or paediatric age, and compromise life quality of young patients.

Curriculum vitae

Education and training

    Degree in Medical Biotechnology (Faculty of Medicin and Surgery, University of Milan), 110/110, (1999-2000). Experimental thesis on “Modulation of dynamic properties of plasma membrane microdomains in neuron cells”, Dept. of Chemistry and Medical Chemistry, University of Milan.
    Ph.D. in Biochemistry (University of Milano-Bicocca) (2003), Dept. of Experimental, Environmental Medicine and Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery Faculty, University of Milano-Bicocca. Ph.D. project: “Studies on subcellular proteomics of renal cell carcinoma”.
    Training courses: “Training course in Optical and Electron Microscopy”, Microscopy and Image Analysis Society (MIA), University of Milano-Bicocca (2003); “Course on the application of Mass spectrometry techniques in the study of genome and proteome”, University of Tuscia, Vitorchiano (2002); "Modern Techniques in Industrial Biology", Training course on two-dimensional electrophoresis”, Didactic Laboratory of University of Torin (2001).
    Research fellow (2004-2007) on project: “Studies on subcellular proteomics of renal cell carcinoma”.
    Researcher SDD BIO/12, from 09/01/2008, Dept. of Health Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca.

Teaching experences

    Laboratory course of enzymatic assay and informatics approach to biologic chemistry, for Medicine and Surgery students.
    Diagnostic biotechnologies and Diagnostic techniques and automation for Medical Biotechnologies students.
    Degree training for Medical Biotechnologies and Biologic Sciences students.
    Tutor of Medicine and Surgery students.

Research topics

    The research topics concern biochemical and medical aspects of plasma membranes, and in particular of the functional role, metabolism and interaction of their lipid and protein components in physiological and pathological conditions. In particular:
    - role of the plasma membrane and its supra-molecular organization;
    - lipid-protein interactions at the membrane level;
    - lipidomics and proteomics of plasma membranes and biological fluids.
    Our researches deal with the study of plasma membrane and microdomains (lipid rafts and caveolae), involved either in physiological - transduction signalling - and pathological - neurodegenerative disorders and cancer - conditions. Our group has been involved in the “Study of molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer Disease (AD): platelets and fibroblasts as peripheral model for new diagnostic approach” project. In the last years, we evaluated the alterations in protein expression profile of subcellular fractions in tumoral tissue compared to normal one, inside the “Renal cell carcinoma Proteome” and the “Italian Human ProteomeNet” projects. Aim of this work was the identification of potential biomarker for early diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma.
    Recently, we approached the study of urinary exosomes, nanovesicles (30-100 nm) released by every epithelial cell facing the urinary space, in physiological and pathological conditions. Their analysis may provide potential biomarkers for kidney diseases. We are involved in the study of renal diseases, which are difficult to diagnose: renal cell carcinoma, aggressive, highly metastatic, chemo- and radio-resistant tumour; diabetic nephropathy, frequent diabetic outcome, which is associated with altered renal protein expression; Bartter and Gitelman syndromes, which outset in fetal, neonatal and/or paediatric age, and compromise life quality of young patients.

Publications

    1. Raimondo, F., Morosi, L., Corbetta, S., Chinello, C., Brambilla, P., Della Mina, P., et al. (2013). Differential protein profiling of renal cell carcinoma urinary exosomes. Molecular bioSystems, 9(6), 1220-1233.

    2. Raimondo, F., Corbetta, S., Morosi, L., Chinello, C., Gianazza, E., Castoldi, G., et al. (2013). Urinary exosomes and diabetic nephropathy: a proteomic approach. Molecular bioSystems, 9(6), 1139-1146..

    3. Del Boccio, P., Raimondo, F., Pieragostino, D., Morosi, L., Cozzi, G., Sacchetta, P., et al. (2012). A hyphenated microLC-Q-TOF-MS platform for exosomal lipidomics investigations: Application to RCC urinary exosomes. ELECTROPHORESIS, 33(4), 689-696

    4. Raimondo, F., Morosi, L., Chinello, C., Perego, R., Bianchi, C., Albo, G., et al. (2012). Protein profiling of microdomains purified from renal cell carcinoma and normal kidney tissue samples. Molecular bioSystems, 8, 1007-1016.

    5. Raimondo, F., Salemi, C., Chinello, C., Fumagalli, D., Morosi, L., Rocco, F., et al. (2012). Proteomic analysis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma: identification of differentially expressed protein by 2-D DIGE. Molecular bioSystems, 8, 1040-1051.

last update: January 2018