Developed skills and lines of research
Daniela Maria Cirillo graduated in Medicine from the University of Turin and in 1987 she obtained her specialization in Microbiology at the same university. In 1992 she obtained her PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at La Sapienza University of Rome. Since 2002, she has been head of the Emerging Bacterial Pathogens Unit at the San Raffaele IRCCS Foundation in Milan. The laboratory she directs focuses its activities on the study of two major thematics: the pathogenetic mechanisms that lead tuberculosis to be drug resistant, and the study of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains and their spread in the nosocomial environment. The unit is recognized by the World Health Organization as a Collaborating Center, Sovereign Reference Laboratory for MDR-TB and as a collaborating center of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). In the field of cystic fibrosis, her research activity focuses on the study of interactions between Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Projects funded by FFC Ricerca as Principal Investigator or as Research Manager
FFC#17/2019
Preclinical evaluation of liposomes carrying bioactive lipids as an immune therapeutic tool against in vitro and vivo infection by Mycobacterium abscessus
FFC#16/2018
Preclinical evaluation of liposomes carrying bioactive lipids as an immune therapeutic tool against in vivo infection with Mycobacterium abscessus
FFC#15/2015
Impact of anti-Staphylococcus aureus treatment on Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced lung damage
FFC#9/2010
Pathogenicity of Staphylococcus aureus and its role in the progression of Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronic lung infection
Projects financed by FFC Ricerca as a partner
FFC#13/2022
Fighting Mycobacterium abscessus infections by a novel combination therapy
Publications from FFC Research projects
Montuschi P, Paris D, Montella S et al., Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics discriminates primary ciliary dyskinesia from cystic fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2014, 190(2):229-33
Baldan R, Cigana C, Testa F, et al., Adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Cystic Fibrosis airways influences virulence of Staphylococcus aureus in vitro and murine models of co-infection PLoS ONE 2014, 9(3):e89614