Cancer is a multifactorial disorder involving different genetic and epigenetic alterations. Since epigenetic modifications are brought about by multiple enzymes working synergistically, multitargeting compounds may be particularly effective to acutely interfere with aberrant processes. The simultaneous inhibition of two or more enzymes by a single molecule provides improved therapeutic efficacy compared to single-target inhibitors, along with reduced insurgence of drug resistance. Through this project, I aim at developing novel therapeutics targeting protein (de)methylation and (de)acetylation for application in cancer therapy. I will synthesise and evaluate hybrid molecules inhibiting two enzymes at the same time. I will develop two classes of compounds targeting the Lysine-specific histone demethylase 1A (LSD1) and either Protein arginine N-methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) or Histone deacetylases 1-2 (HDAC1-2). These enzymes cooperate in different pathways that lead to cancer insurgence and progression, hence dual targeting represents a successful strategy to counteract tumour growth. To achieve the outlined aims, I will employ a multidisciplinary approach requiring the fusion of knowledge and tools from medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, molecular and cell biology. Through the employment of cutting-edge synthetic approaches, I will prepare LSD1/PRMT5 and LSD1/HDAC1-2 inhibitors which will be assessed through multiple biochemical and biophysical assays. I will also employ native mass spectrometry to investigate their mode of action in the context of the multi-protein complexes formed by the protein targets. The most promising inhibitors will be evaluated in cellular assays to assess their anticancer properties and their effects on transcriptional regulation. This project will open innovative avenues for personalised therapies and provide additional weapons to overcome drug resistance, along with adding new knowledge on the epigenetic mechanisms of cancer.

ROMAVANTGARDE aims to reveal a particular phenomenon in the history of music: the effervescence of avant-garde networks in Rome during the 1960s. This phenomenon saw the first steps of influential figures to come: Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran, and Ennio Morricone. But it is also of particular interest as it involved a large number of artists from varied national and cultural horizons, connected diverse institutions (schools, bars, religious establishments), and saw the encounter of various genres (art music, jazz, and popular music) to create original repertoires. As a consequence, this is an ideal case to show how art music creation—despite the enduring paradigm of the individual genius—is a collective phenomenon involving human, but also nonhuman actors (institutions, artifacts, ideas). To do so, ROMAVANTGARDE will draw specifically on Actor-Network Theory (ANT), but also on Social Network Analysis (SNA). Through this case study, ROMAVANTGARDE aims to advance knowledge on the history of twentieth-century music and to reveal Rome as a cosmopolitan city actively participating in the construction of the European musical landscape. At the same time, It aims to further research on creativity and to encourage the recent exchanges between network theories and music studies. This project will be undertaken in Sapienza University of Rome, a reputed university for research in the history of music. Sapienza is also the ideal institution to carry out research in the city’s libraries and archives and to carry out the collection of testimonies before witnesses disappear. Professor Emanuele Senici, an internationally renowned music historian with extensive experience in the history of modern and Roman music, will supervise this project. This experience is thus expected to have a profound impact on my training, scientific maturity, and reputation and to place me in good stead to qualify for a tenure-track position in Europe.

The research aims to analyse the role of Unrra, Unesco and Fao in planning a new global order since World War II based on Education, Science and management of the Environment, looking at the expertise and proposals of their workers. The research will focus on the sustainable and inclusive vision of global development of those United Nations agencies during one of the worst historical catastrophes observing the international circulation of technicians, agents and scientists inside those institutions through a prosopographical study and their programs of relief. The project will contribute to the history of humanitarianism through a prosopographical approach instead of the usual institutional one. It looks at the stories of UN agencies workers to understand how they realise their principal mandates on a global dimension. Moreover, the research sheds light on the scientific and cultural heritage of the UN agencies global planning, humanitarian practices, and sustainable development projects. The objective is to understand their potential global contribution to two of the current political priorities of the European Union: creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society and making Europe the first digitally-enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy. Comparative use of United Nations sources in New York, Unesco archives in Paris and the Fao ones in Rome will produce the first global development planners and technicians database. The dataset shared on a web portal will collect biographical information about UN agency workers and their projects. The web-based research environment will be openly accessible to historians, social scientists, policymakers, stakeholders, students, teachers and a wider public, opening new possibilities in the analysis of humanitarianism and the World History of the 20th century and the production of sustainable and rightful public policies.

“You are lying in your throat!” “Your father was a water carrier!” “You shouldn’t be talking to good women!” “Rotten prattler!” In Late medieval Italian cities, these and many other expressions were illegal. A citizen found uttering these words against another citizen would be taken to court and, if found guilty, punished. Lists of such ‘injurious words’ (verba iniuriosa) are found in government measures (statutes, legislation of decrees and ordinances). Many more are preserved in collections of criminal trial records (depositions, prosecutions, sentences and records of fines). SATYRANDO will be the first systematic investigation of the interconnections between this fascinating body of legal practices and thinking, and the Italian literary production of the time, a period generally referred to as the Late Middle Ages (mid-13th – end-15th century). In various ways jurisdiction over insult will illuminate the circumstances of production and reception of a variety of literary artefacts and theories. The action will change the way in which so-called the group of 'Playful Poets' are perceived and categorised in available scholarship – at school and university levels -, correcting the traditional notion that the use of aggressive, offensive language should be mainly interpreted as a rhetorical exercise or divertissment. By locating and describing those commentators, rhetoricians and poets who demonstrate an awareness of the legal risks involved in employing violent language, the action will also contribute to a better understanding of the development of the literary genre of satire and the history of concepts such as defamation, oppression of minorities (ie satire vs women and Jews in particular), freedom of speech, hate crimes and tolerance. An important part of SATYRANDO is to explore the broader impact of the reworked definition of satirical language by developing private and public dialogue with Italian and EU policy-makers, magistrates and satirists and cartoonists.