Head of Laboratory

Simona is Associate Professor of Human Genomics at the University of Rome Sapienza, where she directs her research laboratory - the Giunta Lab of Genome Evolution, to study the role of genome instability in degenerative diseases such as cancer and aging, and teaches Genome Evolution and other courses for the Master of Science in Genetics & Molecular Biology. After graduating with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Cancer Biology from Brunel in London (UK), she earned a Ph.D. in Cancer Research at the University of Cambridge in the lab of Prof. Steve Jackson studying DNA damage repair in mitosis. She worked at the nuclear reactor of the EMBL/ILL (France), and was a UICC Fellow leading a new cancer and nutrition study at CSIRO (Australia). She was then Research Scientist at Rockefeller University in New York (USA) for almost 10 years, funded by a Women & Science Fellowship, American Italian Cancer Foundation Fellowship, and grants to the lab from the Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital and the NIH. Almost two decades after leaving her hometown, Rome, Simona was awarded the Marie Curie Reintegration Fellowship from the European Research Council, the Montalcini "Bringing back the brains" Award from the Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR), SEAL of Excellence funding from Sapienza and the Start-Up Grant from AIRC, all of which allowed Simona to establish her own lab back in Italy. After 3 years Rita Levi Montalcini Assistant Professor, she obtained tenure in the Department of Biology & Biotechnology 'Charles Darwin' in Sapienza. She is also founding President of Know Science Inc. and the Genome Integrity Italian Network (GiiN), scientific advisor at the United Nations & passionate advocate for science outreach and for gender equality in STEM.