5 minutes with Francesca Ciccarelli

Briefly, tell us about your background and career up to this point?

I graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in Bologna and did a PhD and a short postdoc at the The European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany working on the evolution of genes and genomes. I started my own group at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan aiming to apply the same approaches I used in genome evolution to the evolution of cancer. In 2014 I moved to King’s and since 2017 my group has been seconded to the Crick.

What is a typical day like for you, and how has this changed from when you would commute to the office?

I returned to the Crick a few months ago now, so I am back to my usual routine. I am lucky to walk to work and I start the day quite early to enjoy the feeling of having a lot of time ahead of me. I devote some hours to emails and admin, but try and protect as much as I can to the science with my group. I am constantly (pre)occupied with money hunting and grant writing…

How have you adjusted so far to working from home?

Honestly, I never really adjusted to working from home. I missed the social interaction, the travelling and the random conversations that happen when you bump into colleagues. I think all of them help my creativity. I also missed the physical space of the lab - the feeling of being close to where things happen…

What do you think people in the School would find most surprising about you?

I love theatre and for many years I even played with an amateur theatre group. I quit when I moved to London, not a big loss for the theatre overall…

What is your typical coffee order?

I love the smell of coffee but not its taste, particularly if too strong… so a boring extra-long white americano for me!

What advice would you give to yourself to your 18-year-old self?

Always make sure to nurture your drive and enthusiasm and all will be fine.

Can you please tell us a bit about your current research projects?

We study the changes of the genomes that drive cancer and/or confer vulnerabilities to the cancer cells that we can then use to develop new therapies. For a couple of years, we have started to analyse samples from patients in clinical trials for immunotherapy. This has required extending our studies beyond cancer cells to include also non-cancer cells, particularly those of the immune system. We stepped out of our comfort zone, which is challenging but also exciting and has allowed us to enlarge our network of collaborators. In this respect, being part of the CRUK KHP and CoL Centres, and being based at the Crick has facilitated our work enormously.

QUICK-FIRE

Your favourite season... End of Summer, when temperatures get mild and colours become warm and melancholic.

Your favourite book... “Teresa Batista cansada de guerra” (Teresa Batista: back from the wars). I read it in my twenties and I keep going back to it whenever I need to look up to a strong woman character.

You'd spend an hour cooking... I’d prepare a risotto, probably with porcini mushrooms or saffron (not together, though…).

Your best Netflix recommendation... Series: Unorthodox; Movie: The Great Beauty.