Michele Marass, Phd Email & Phone Number

Dresden, Sn, De

Dresden, Saxony, Germany

➤ As an Editorial Consultant, I support the research groups at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics at multiple stages of the publication process. I advise scientists on various matters, from strategy planning, to grant writing, to the presentation of scientific results in the form of scientific publications.➤ As a Scientific Mentor, I organize workshops and lectures about scientific publishing, research integrity, and scientific writing for group leaders, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students.

London, England, United Kingdom

Nature Portfolio

London, England Metropolitan Area

-Clinical and Translational TeamAdditional roles and responsibilities within Springer Nature:-Clinical Research Highlights Leader-Masterclass Instructor-Nature Conference organizer

London, United Kingdom

-Clinical and Translational Team

London, United Kingdom

➤ Main Tasks:• Leading and motivating a team of scientific editors.• Evaluating the output of employees, providing feedback on this output.• Analysing the targets and the achievements of the employees both at the qualitative and quantitative levels; finding solutions to improve their outcome when necessary.• Delivering one-to-one meetings with team members to provide support and discuss progress.• Ensuring that team members are adequately trained, mentored and coached to the required standard.• Acting as final arbiter of production values for the journal, including overseeing consistency with the in-house style.• Handling the peer review process and assessing the quality of the papers being published.• Ensuring that the employees record the completion of the tasks assigned in an efficient and timely manner.• Responsible for the scientific integrity of the articles prior publication.• Responsible for the reliability of statistical analyses of clinical trials, retrospective studies and pre-clinical studies.

London, United Kingdom

➤ Main Tasks:• Handling Peer Review process for articles on clinical trials and pre-clinical models.• Responsible for the scientific integrity of scientific articles.• Liaise with authors, academic editors and members of the production team.• Scientific evaluation of the clinical and translational potential of preclinical studies.• Update personal technical knowledge in the fields of Oncology and Molecular Medicine.• Detection of image duplication and manipulation (Photoshop, Motuin).• Examining plagiarism cases (iThenticate).• Assessing the work of junior editors.• Training and supervising junior editors.• Proofreading and language editing.• STR profile analysis / cell line checker.• Handling issues regarding statistics, CRISPR/Cas9, animal models and bioinformatics.➤ Honing skills:• Decision making.• Attention to detail.• Time management.• Scientific thinking.• Interpersonal skills.• Photoshop and MS Word.

Bad Nauheim (Hessen)

➤ Coordinated 8 successful research projects, working in different teams➤ Developed 7 novel mutants and 4 transgenic lines using genome editing tools, such as CRISPR/Cas9 technology➤ Time management and project planning skills were necessary to set short-term goals and long-term goals➤ Provided scientific consulting, finding innovative ways to employ tools I developed and proposing new applications of cutting-edge technologies in my field of expertise➤ Developed a software for big data analysis, applied to NGS and whole-genome datasets➤ Supervised and mentored a PhD student, three master’s students and a medical student ➤ I was part of a collaboration network including researchers belonging to Francis Crick Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, Duke University and Cleveland Clinic ➤ As a continuation of my master thesis work, I designed and patented a synthetic protein of therapeutic interest

Thesis title: In vivo functional characterization of vegfaa in cardiovascular development in zebrafishAim: Generation of synthetic bioactive proteins based on Vegf sequence. Particularly, I had to identify and modify the key residues of Vegf based on its 3D crystal structure, at the atomic level.Tasks:- Study the role of Vegf in angiogenesis and vasculogenesis using an in vivo animal model.- Understand the key receptors interacting with Vegf and the functional overlap between Vegf ligands (Vegfc, Vegfb, Vegfc, Vegfd).- Identify the key residues of Vegf.Achievements:- I optimized an assay to evaluate the angiogenic and antiangiogenic potential of drugs and proteins in vivo.- I found a novel function for Vegfd, able to rescue efficiently the phenotype of vegfa mutant.- I identified the most important aminoacids involved in Vegfa function in vivo using site oriented mutagenesis.- Using protein engineering methods, I designed and synthesised a modified Vegf with antiangiogenic effect, recently patented.- I generated an inducible transgenic line to inhibit angiogenesis in a temporally controlled manner that we used to investigate the role of coronaries during heart regeneration.★ The tools I designed were used by multiple labs around the world and were key to the success of the research groups we collaborated with.

Bad Nauheim (Hessen)

➤As a member of a team of 5 people, we cooperated to represent the PhD students of our institute, with the aim to generate new collaborations within the International Max Planck Research School. Through the organization of workshops ( 20 attendees, every 3-4 months) and events (25 attendees, every month), we facilitated the exchange of information, promoting an interdisciplinary environment.➤I organised two international conferences with more than 80 participants.Finding a location, negotiating with venue holders, managing a budget and inviting impactful speakers from overseas were major points I personally took care of. Number of invited keynote speakers under my supervision + 20% compared with previous conferences organized by our institute.➤ I organised for the first time in our institute a workshop with the title "Graphic design for scientists using Illustrator and Photoshop", that was one of the most appreciated ones in our workshop series.➤As a Student Representative, I personally discussed with members of the Max Planck Senate how to improve the salary conditions of PhD candidates and now, new PhD students are employed based on the Collective Wage Agreement for the Civil Service (TVöD).

Thesis title: Role of iron homeostasis in the resistance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to thiosemicarbazone-based chemotherapeutic agents.Aim: Identification of the molecular components involved in Bis(S-citronellalthiosemicarbazonate)nickel(II) cytotoxicity. Particularly, I worked on a high-throughput genetic screening based on multicopy suppression number strategy.Tasks:- Overexpression of a series of plasmids containing several yeast genes in vivo.- Functional characterization of the genes conferring resistance to the chemotherapeutic agent, in particular, the receptors and transcription factors FTR1, GRX3, AFT1 and FET3- Analyzing the role of Iron availability in the resistance to the chemotherapeutic agent.Achievements:- We identified one of the pathways involved in the molecular function of a chemotherapic drug performing overexpression of a library containing several genes in Yeast. - We subcloned the candidates to confirm their synergistic role in the resistance to [Ni(tcitr)2].- By titrating Iron concentration, we evaluated the effect of this metal in the regulation of the genes of interest.★ We performed a multidisciplinary study, involving the orchestrated effort of several departments of the University of Parma.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Molecular Genetics, Magna Cum Laude

Activities and Societies: Member of the International Max Planck Research Schools Committee

Molecular Biology

Mars42 - Entrepreneurship Summer School, Business

MARS42 is a Summer School for Scientific Changemakers that provides PhD students and Post-Docs with a guide for reading research under.

Master Of Science (M.S.), Industrial Biotechnology, 110 Summa Cum Laude

Activities and Societies: Elected student representative

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Biotechnology, 110 Summa Cum Laude

Activities and Societies: Elected student representative

Computer Science