Martina La Spina earned her master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Catania. In 2014, she started a PhD program in Biosciences and Biotechnologies at the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Padua, primarily investigating the pharmacological properties of natural polyphenols and testing their therapeutic potential in different pathological models. In 2018, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Rosa Puertollano at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA), where she investigated the role of lysosomes and autophagy in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis by generating zebrafishmutants. After her post-doctoral studies, Martina moved back to the University of Padua. In 2021, she received the Seal of Excellence certificate from the European Commission for her project N-F1 RACE submitted under the Horizon MSCA Action. Her project has been funded by the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research (MUR), that allowed Martina to take on a new position as Assistant Professor. Her current line of investigation is centered on Neurofibromatosis type1 associated tumors and melanoma pathogenesis with a specific interest in understanding how rewiring of amino acid metabolism by cancer cells supports tumor development.