Dr. Monica Casucci is an active researcher in the field of CAR-T cell therapy of cancer. Biotechnologist by training, she obtained a PhD in cellular and molecular biology in 2012 (Open University, London/ San Raffaele University, Milan). In 2010, she visited dr. Gianpietro Dotti’s laboratory at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston to learn about this innovative technology. During her PhD and postdoc, she developed a new CAR-based strategy for tackling different types of tumors and participated to the development of the first mouse model recapitulating cytokine release syndrome (CRS)/neurotoxicity (ICANS). She is crucially involved in and supported by several Italian and European Consortia aimed at promoting the bench-to-bedside translation of CAR-T cell therapies and was awarded with an ERC Starting Grant. Main activities of her lab include development of strategies to boost efficacy against solid tumors, development of novel CAR specificities toward clinical testing, improvement of CAR-T cell fitness, and exploitation of advanced mouse models to deepen the understanding of CAR-related toxicities.

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