Dr. Di Cicco studied Biological Science at University of Molise (Italy) where she earned the bachelor degree in 2013. In 2016 she obtained her master degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy). As undergraduated, she joined Prof. Dentice’s lab, in which she conducted research on the hormonal regulation in skin cancers. In 2020 she obtained the PhD in “Newer Biomedical and Surgical Treatments” under the supervision of Prof. Dentice at University of Naples Federico II. During her PhD she focused on the role of Thyroid hormone signaling in the progression of Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
In November 2020 she was funded from AIRC (Associazione italiana Ricerca sul cancro) for a two-years postdoctoral “Fellowship for abroad” to move to Dr. Dotto’s lab at Massachusetts General Hospital to investigate the molecular mechanisms that lead the conversion of dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) into cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs).She is started working on the connection between genomic instability and CAF activation and specifically on the role that androgen receptor (AR) plays in this field.