Daniela Taverna – PTEN Research Institute

Daniela Taverna

CURRENT POSITION

EDUCATIONS / TRAINING

1994-2002
Post-doctoral Fellow, Associate, Instructor Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA

1993
Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology University of Basel and Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland

1998
Laurea/Master in Biological Sciences (Biomedical), summa cum laude and honours University of Torino, Italy

WORK EXPERIENCES

2019-Present
Full Professor of Molecular Biology Dept. of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, Italy

2010-2019
Associate Professor of Molecular Biology Dept. of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, Italy

2002-2010
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology Dept. of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino, Italy

1994-2006
Professor, Department of Tumor Genetics and Biology, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Kumamoto, Japan

2006-Present
Principal Investigator First at the IRCCS, Candiolo (TO), Italy, then at the MBC, Torino, Italy

WORK ACTIVITIES

Awards
Swiss Krebs league fellowship; EMBO fellowships; Swiss foundation fellowship; Program of excellence, MIT, stipend; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Associate and Instructor; Intellectual Property Award (IPA) 2021, First price for the “Life Sciences and Healthcare” Section for our Axl-miR-148b patent awarded from from the Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (MISE) at the Expo in Dubai (28/02/2022).

Editorial activity
Cancer Res. Editor; reviewer for Cancer Research, Oncogene, Molecular Cancer Research, Journal Cell Biology, EMBO journal, EMBO molecular medicine, Nature Cell Biology, Cancer Metastasis, Molecular Therapy, Theranostics, Scientific Reports, Molecular Carcinogenesis, Frontiers, Cell Death and Differentiation, Biochemical Pharmacology, BMC Cancer, BMC genomics, BMC biology, Journal of investigative Dermatology.

Invited presentations
Invited to more than 40 oral presentations, national, international.

Grants
AIRC IG (2011-13); AIRC-IG (2014-2017); AIRC-IG (2018-2022); AIRC-IG (2023-2027); RICERCA SANITARIA FINALIZZATA (2018-2022); REGIONE PIEMONTE DEFLECT (2019-2022); CTR (2018-2022); RAYBIOTECH (2013-14); SAN PAOLO/UNITO (2013-16); SAN PAOLO/UNITO (2017-20); COST ACTION/SAN PAOLO (2021-2024); DUBAI PRICE (2022-2025); POC (2021, 2023, 2024); PRIN (2022-2026); PNRR RNA THERAPY (2022-2026).

Patents
1)D. Taverna, L. Quirico, F. Orso, V. de Franciscis, C.L. Esposito & S. Catuogno. Application of chimeric axl-miR-148b (also called axl-148bor GL21.T-148b) aptamers in targeted therapy. Approvato da Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico il 06/09/2019, Italian Patent Application. 102019000015806. European and USA approved. 1)D. Taverna, L. Quirico, F. Orso, V. de Franciscis, C.L. Esposito & S. Catuogno. Application of chimeric axl-miR-148b (also called axl-148bor GL21.T-148b) aptamers in targeted therapy. Approvato da Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico il 06/09/2019, Italian Patent Application. 102019000015806. European and USA approved. 2) Taverna Daniela, Quirico Lorena, Orso Francesca. Chimeric complex and its therapeutic uses (II). Approvato da Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico il 31 August 2021, Italian Patent Application n. 102021000022610. European and USA application filed.

2) Taverna Daniela, Quirico Lorena, Orso Francesca. Chimeric complex and its therapeutic uses (II). Approvato da Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico il 31 August 2021, Italian Patent Application n. 102021000022610. European and USA application filed.

PUBLICATIONS

1. Penna E., Orso F, Cimino D, Vercellino I, Grassi E, Quaglino E, Turco E, Taverna D. miR-214 coordinates melanoma progression by upregulating ALCAM through TFAP2 and miR-148b downmodulation. Cancer Res. 2013 Jul 1;73(13):4098-111. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-3686. IF 16.6

2. Cuiffo BG, Campagne A, Bell GW, Lembo A, Orso F, Lien EC, Bhasin MK, Raimo M, Hanson SE, Marusyk A, El-Ashry D, Hematti P, Polyak K, Mechta-Grigoriou F, Mariani O, Volinia S, Vincent-Salomon A, Taverna D, Karnoub AE. MSC-regulated microRNAs converge on the transcription factor FOXP2 and promote breast cancer metastasis. Cell Stem Cell. 2014 Dec 4;15(6):762-74. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.10.001. IF 20.4

3. Wicki A, Mandalà M, Massi D, Taverna D, Tang H, Hemmings BA, Xue G. Acquired Resistance to Clinical Cancer Therapy: A Twist in Physiological Signaling. Physiol Rev. 2016 Jul;96(3):805-29. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00024.2015. Review. IF 37.31

4. Orso F, Quirico L, Virga F, Penna E, Dettori D, Cimino D, Coppo R, Grassi E, Elia AR, Brusa D, Deaglio S, Brizzi MF, Stadler MB, Provero P, Caselle M, Taverna D. miR-214 and miR-148b targeting inhibits dissemination of melanoma and breast cancer. Cancer Res. 2016 Jun 21.pii:canres.1322.2015.doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-1322. IF 16.6

5. Bellazzo A, Di Minin G, Valentino E, Sicari D, Torre D, Marchionni L, Serpi F, Stadler MB, Taverna D, Zuccolotto G, Montagner IM, Rosato A, Tonon F, Zennaro C, Agostinis C, Bulla R, Mano M, Del Sal G, Collavin L. Cell-autonomous and cell non-autonomous downregulation of tumor suppressor DAB2IP by microRNA-149-3p promotes aggressiveness of cancer cells. Cell Death Differ. 2018 Jul;25(7):1224 1238. doi: 10.1038/s41418-018-0088-5. Epub 2018 Mar 22. IF 15.4

6. Dettori D, Orso F, Penna E, Baruffaldi D, Brundu S, Maione F, Turco E, Giraudo E, Taverna D. Therapeutic Silencing of miR-214 Inhibits Tumor Progression in Multiple Mouse Models. Mol Ther. 2018 Aug 1;26(8):2008-2018. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2018.05.020. IF 12

7. Orso F, Quirico L, Dettori D, Coppo R, Virga F, Ferreira LC, Paoletti C, Baruffaldi D, Penna E, Taverna D. Role of miRNAs in tumor and endothelial cell interactions during tumor progression. Semin Cancer Biol. 2020 Feb;60:214-224. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2019.07.024. Epub 2019 Aug 3. IF 15.707

8. Virga F, Cappellesso F, Stijlemans B, Henze AT, Trotta R, Van Audenaerde J, Mirchandani AS, Sanchez-Garcia MA, Vandewalle J, Orso F, Riera-Domingo C, Griffa A, Ivan C, Smits Laoui D, Martelli F, Langouche L, Van den Berghe G, Feron O,Ghesquière B, Prenen H, Libe C, Walmsley SR, Corbet C, Van Ginderachter JA, Ivan M, Taverna D, Mazzone M. Macrophage miR-210 induction and metabolic reprogramming in response to pathogen interaction boost life-threatening inflammation. Sci Adv. 2021 May 7;7(19):eabf0466. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf0466.. IF 14.136 * co-last authors

9. Orso F, Virga F, Dettori D, Dalmasso A, Paradzik M, Savino A, Pomatto MAC, Quirico L, Cucinelli S, Coco M, Mareschi K, Fagioli F, Salmena L, Camussi G, Provero P, Poli V, Mazzone M, Pandolfi PP, Taverna D. Stroma-derived miR-214 coordinates tumor dissemination. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2023 Jan 13;42(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s13046-022-02553-5. IF 12.2

10. Quirico L, Rizzolio S, Bertone S, Cirillo PDR, Savino A, Vitale N, Catuogno S, Esposito CL, Stadler MB, Defilippi P, de Franciscis V, Orso F, Taverna D. The chimeric aptamer axl-miR-214sponge inhibits breast cancer and melanoma dissemination. Mol Ther. 2025 Jul 31:S1525-0016(25)00573-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.07.039. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40751315 IF 12