Pasquelena De Nittis obtained her Master’s Degree in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Bologna in March 2013, where she worked on umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells. After that, she has spent one year and an half as a postgraduate research fellow in the group of Dr. Giuseppe Merla at the Medical Genetics Unit of “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza” Hospital (San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy). Her research activity focused there on rare genetic diseases. She joined our institute in April 2015 as PhD student, to work in the Alexandre Reymond’s group.