Sofia Barbieri graduated in Bio-Medical Physics in 2015 at the University of Pavia, Italy.

She approached the field of radiation biology during her Master and she continued in that direction during her doctoral studies. She achieved her PhD in Physics in 2018, with a thesis entitled: “DNA damage by charged and neutral radiation at different spatial and temporal scales: integrating Monte Carlo simulations with in vitro experiments”, carried out in collaboration with the Columbia University Medical Center, New York (USA).

In 2019 she joined the Laboratory of Asymmetric Cell Division led by Prof. Monica Gotta (PHYM Department, UNIGE, Geneva).

Her main field of research is now the investigation of the complex dynamics of cell polarity markers in the C. elegans 1-cell embryo and the process of cytoplasmic protein gradient formation.

Her interests are at the interface between physics and biology, especially on the modelling of complex biological phenomena using computational and Monte Carlo tools.

PUBLICATIONS (from 2020)

1. Internal feedback circuits among MEX-5, MEX-6, and PLK-1 maintain faithful patterning in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo

2. Order from chaos: cellular asymmetries explained with modelling

3. Modeling protein dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos reveals that the PLK-1 gradient relies on weakly coupled reaction-diffusion

4. A systems radiation biology approach to unravel the role of chronic low-dose-rate gamma-irradiation in inducing premature senescence in endothelial cells

5. Microvilli Adhesion: An Alternative Route for Nanoparticle Cell Internalization

6. Radiation-induced cell cycle perturbations: a computational tool validated with flow-cytometry data

7. Immunophenotyping Reveals No Significant Perturbation to PBMC Subsets When Co-cultured With Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Caco-2 Cells Exposed to X-Rays

8. UBAP2L Forms Distinct Cores that Act in Nucleating Stress Granules Upstream of G3BP1