Technological Units

DEO possesses state-of-the-art core technological platforms, run by highly-qualified personnel within dedicated Technological Units. The Technological Units provide cutting-edge technologies (omics, imaging, cell biology, structural biology, computation) and technical assistance to all the scientists of our community. The Directors of the Technological Units are assisted by selected PIs (User Groups) in the strategic decisions and operations of their Units.

Genomics Unit

Genomics Unit

Luca Rotta

Genomic Unit was established in 2009 in collaboration with the Center for Genomic Sciences of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) hosted at our Campus. The unit is tasked with providing state-of-the-art genomic services to the Department community by implementing the latest sequencing technology. Our equipment include: liquid handling robots to automate pipetting tasks, DNA quantification and quality control instruments, Bioanalyzer, LabChipGX and Tape Station and three next-generation sequencing platforms from Illumina: MiSeq, Hiseq2000 and Novaseq6000, a highly flexible platform performing a broad range of applications for the DNA and RNA analysis also at single-cell level using Chromium system by 10X Genomics. The GU also offers technological support to research groups towards the optimization and development of tailored protocol. A constant technological update and flexibility to the needs is also provided. More than twenty research groups from IEO and IIT institutions are actively using Next Generation Sequencing technologies, with the aim of investigating regulation and structure of human genome in the context of of tumor biology. A highly integrated research community in genomics benefits of technological platforms provided by this Unit, including more than two hundred biologists and approximately thirty computational scientists. Ad hoc User Group Committee, is in charge together with the GU itself of supervising and solving any type of problem and defining new technological investment strategies, management of the access rules and general infrastructure of the unit.

Molecular and Digital Pathology Unit

Molecular and Digital Pathology Unit

Salvatore Pece

The Molecular and Digital Pathology Unit (MDPU) supports research groups at IEO, or in collaborating Institutions, in the execution of large-scale experiments utilizing human pathological material for the identification of novel tumor markers for diagnostic and/or prognostic applications, or of cancer targets for drug discovery efforts. The MDPU provides expertise and specific services for tissue processing (FFPE/fresh/frozen samples), tissue microarray (TMA) construction, tissue sectioning, slide staining and analysis (mostly IHC, ISH), and pathology material storage. The MDPU also supports mouse pathology work, providing a dedicated space and technical assistance to users. In close collaboration with the Pathology Department at IEO, the MDPU has access to tissue archives dating back to 1994, when IEO was established. These archives are an invaluable source of patient material that can be used for the construction and continuous replenishment of ad hocTMAs. Thanks to data stored by the IEO Tumor Registry, all arrayed tissues are linked to complete clinicopathological information and follow-up data. Thus, the MDPU can provide support to large-scale studies that require case collections with high quality follow-up data and/or dedicated TMAs. Through its Bioinformatics experts, the MDPU provides assistance in determining the links between gene expression patterns and clinicopathological parameters or clinical outcome, a necessary step for the validation of new diagnostic and prognostic markers.

Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO)
Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO)
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