Francesca Pentimalli is Research Scientist at the National Cancer Institute of Naples, IRCCS Pascale Foundation, where she coordinates the Cell Cycle & Cancer lab. She is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. She obtained her MSc Degree in Biological Sciences summa cum laude in 1997 and her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Genetics in 2002, at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Her work was mostly dedicated to the identification of new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for solid tumors, focusing in particular on the molecular mechanisms underlying thyroid cancer development and progression. From 2001 to 2003, she worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Carlo M. Croce at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Kimmel Cancer Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, where she contributed to the development of several mouse models of tumorigenesis and to the identification of new targets for cancer treatment. In 2004, she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Pathology at the University of Naples Federico II, School of Medicine, where she mainly focused on the study of the cell response to DNA damage. At the University
of Naples Federico II, School of Medicine, she also completed the Specialization Programme in Clinical Pathology and Clinical Biochemistry, summa cum laude.