Maria Giovanna Francipane, PhD

Dr. Maria Giovanna Francipane's studies started at the University of Palermo in Italy, where she received a BS (2004) and an MS (2006) with honors in Medical Biotechnology, and a PhD in Immunopharmacology (2010). In January 2011, Dr. Francipane moved to the University of Pittsburgh, serving first as a post-doc in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Lagasse (until 2015), then as a Research Associate (2016), and more recently (Jan 2017 - July 2020), as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology. Dr. Francipane is currently a Principal Investigator in Regenerative Medicine at Fondazione RiMED in Palermo, an international partnership between the Italian Government, the Region of Sicily, the Italian National Research Council (CNR), the University of Pittsburgh, and UPMC. Dr. Francipane’s background includes over 15 years' experience in research with significant expertise in cellular and molecular biology applications, as evidenced by several first author publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer Research, Gastroenterology, Journal of Immunology, The American Journal of Pathology, Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, STEM CELLS Translational Medicine. Dr. Francipane also serves as a peer reviewer for: JCI Insight, Cancers, Cells, The FASEB Journal, Oncotarget, Stem Cell Research & Therapy, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Stem Cell Research, Cell Transplantation, Life Sciences, Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Experimental Biology and Medicine OncoTargets and Therapy. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Francipane initally investigated the modulation of the mTOR pathway to deplete cancer stem cells in human colorectal cancer. Later, Dr. Francipane investigated mouse lymph node’s ability to support the functional maturation of several tissues, including the kidney and liver. Dr. Francipane's current goal is to design, implement and lead novel physiological and disease-relevant cell culture systems for tissue engineering and drug discovery applications. View a list of Dr. Francipane’s publications here.