Research Topics

a. Comparative in vitro and in vivo studies on the expression and regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes (P450-dependent monooxygenases, conjugative enzymes, drug transporters)

a.1. Importance of constitutive factors, e.g. sex, age, species, breed/strain, individual susceptibility (pharmacogenetics)
a.2. Identification of P450 isoforms responsible for the oxidative metabolism of different chemotherapeutics and contaminants
a.3. Effects of the exposure to xenobiotics (including also natural compounds, diet constituents and illicit growth promoters), on the expression and regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters (i.e. induction/inhibition phenomena)

b. Xenobiotic molecular and cellular toxicity

b.1. Xenobiotic cytotoxicity testing
b.2. Ecotoxicology: in vitro and in vivo studies, in model species such as Daphnia magna, Poecilia reticulata, Raphidocephalis subcapitata, Eisenia foetida, Apis mellifera, on biomolecular mechanisms of action of xenobiotics (e.g., apoptosis/necrosis) on target or surrogate tissues (e.g., liver, immune system)

c. Veterinary oncology and anti-cancer chemotherapy

c.1. Next generation sequencing approach to companion animal neoplasms
c.2. Patient geno- and phenotyping (pharmacogenetics)
c.3. In vitro/in vivo studies on new therapeutic targets and characterization of their bio-molecular effects

d. Veterinary Pharmacogenetics, toxicogenomics, and nutrigenomics

d.1. Studies concerning the effects of xenobiotics (including natural compounds, diet constituents) on the whole-transcriptome of veterinary and model species
d.2. Studies devoted to the definition of biomarkers of internal dose, effect or susceptibility (e.g. genetic polymorphisms) to be used for screening purposes, in biomonitoring as well as in the clinics

Methods and techniques

1. Biochemical techniques: subcellular fractions isolation, enzymatic activities, immunoblotting
2. Cell biology techniques: cultures and transfection of established cell lines; gene editing (CRISP-Cas9); primary cell cultures, cytotoxicity testing, enzymatic activity in culture)
3. Molecular biology techniques: DNA/RNA isolation, PCR end point, Real time PCR, cloning, sequencing, cDNA microarray, Next Generation Sequencing approaches (e.g., RNA-seq); basic in silico modelling

Research Unit Staff

Principal Investigator
Mauro DACASTO (Full Prof., DVM, PhD, Dipl. ECVPT)
Members
Francesca CAPOLONGO (Associate Prof., MSc, PhD, limited to topic a)
Marco DE LIGUORO (Associate Prof., DVM, PhD, limited to topic b and d)
Mery GIANTIN (Associate Prof., DVM, PhD)
Silvia IORI (MSc, PhD student)
Rosa Maria LOPPARELLI (Technician, MSc, PhD)
Lorena LUCATELLO (Technician, MSc, PhD, limited to research topic a)
Hanane MAGHREBI (MSc, PhD student)
Greta MUCIGNAT (DVM, PhD student)
Edoardo PIETROPOLI (MSc, PhD student)
Marianna PAULETTO (Assistant Prof., MSc, PhD)
Federica MAIETTI (junior post-doc, MSc.)

PROPOSED DEGREE THESES OR INTERNSHIPS

Topic
Subjects or projects for degree theses or internships are linked to Proff. Dacasto, Giantin and Pauletto’s research topics.
In particular:
• Comparative in vitro and in vivo studies on the expression and regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes and afflux/efflux drug transporters
• Xenobiotic molecular and cellular toxicity (including also Ecotoxicology)
• Veterinary oncology and anticancer chemotherapy
• Veterinary pharmacogenetics, toxicogenomics and nutrigenomics

Length
Variable, from 1-3 months and up to 1 year (depending from the subject, the Bachelor/Master of Science to whom the student belongs and, consequently, his/her frequency of laboratories)

Vacancy
Variable (depending on the available subjects/projects)

Requirements
• availability to attend the Laboratories of Pharmacogenetics and Toxicogenomics and Cell Biology of the Division of Veterinary Pharmacology & Toxicology
• interest for basic and applied pharmaco-toxicological sciences

Methodologies the student might learn
Molecular (including NGS) and cellular biology techniques

For further information, send an email to Prof. Dacasto (mauro.dacasto@unipd.it) or contact him by phone (+39.049.827.2935)