Molecular Biology: Open Access

Francesco Saverio Tedesco

Biography

I graduated in Medicine and Surgery with honours in 2006 at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy). During and after medical school I was a visiting scientist at the Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) in the laboratory of Professor Shahragim Tajbakhsh, where I studied asymmetric cell division and stem cell self-renewal. I then continued my studies in the laboratory of Professor Giulio Cossu at San Raffaele Scientific Institute (Milan, Italy), where I obtained my PhD in 2010. During my PhD I started a collaboration that launched novel research lines in the aforementioned laboratory, resulting in a publication in a field not previously explored by my supervisor: human artificial chromosomes (HACs; Tedesco FS et al., Sci Transl Med 2011; commentary: Tremblay JP and Frederickson RM, Mol Ther 2011). After my PhD I coupled post-doctoral research in muscle regeneration with clinical practice and training between Italy (San Raffaele Hospital, Milan) and UK (UCL and UCL Hospitals). During this period I led a team of one research assistant and two MSc students to consolidate the research projects developed during my PhD. Additionally, I started to work on a another research line not previously explored by my supervisor: pluripotent stem cell-derived myogenesis (Tedesco FS et al., Sci Transl Med 2012; commentary: Vilquin JT, Mol Ther 2012). Moreover, I also became a co-investigator in a first-in-human clinical trial based upon transplantation of donor muscle stem cells for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (EudraCT no. 2001-000176-33). 
I joined UCL Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in January 2012 as a Senior Research Associate, funded by an MRC Translational Stem Cell Grant on which I was Co-Investigator. In August 2013 I was then appointed Principal Research Associate (starting April 2014) and I established my independent research group.

Research Interest

• Basic Life Sciences
• Experimental Medicine
• Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine