Gruppo Pinzani
Coordinator of Research Team
Name: Pamela Pinzani
Position: Associate Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology;
Name of Research Team Laboratory: Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology
e-mail:pamela.pinzani@unifi.it
telephone number:+39 055 2758233
Brief biographical sketch of the Coordinator (date of birth, degrees and Universities where they have been obtained)
Pamela Pinzani, who holds a degree in Biological Sciences and specializes in Clinical Biochemistry, works as an Associate Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology at the University of Florence (Italy) and directs the Clinical and Molecular Biochemistry Unit at the Careggi University Hospital where she carries out research, assistance and teaching activities.
She is responsible for and coordinates the activity of a research group with different professional profiles, characterized by multidisciplinary collaborations at national and international levels, as evidenced by her scientific production. The research activity in translational research and clinical molecular biology is focused on technological innovation in laboratory medicine through the application of innovative methodologies to the study of oncological pathologies for diagnostic purposes and in any case with a view to personalized medicine. In particular, she has been deeply engaged, as a molecular biologist, in cancer research with a focus on liquid biopsy. She has shown a special interest in molecular technologies for optimizing quantitative real-time/digital PCR and NGS protocols in the context of human solid tumors investigating analytical issues for the measurement of plasma cell-free DNA tumor biomarkers and for the detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood of cancer patients. Since 2018 she has been a member of the CEN European Committee for Standardization CEN/TC140 (In vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices, WG3: Quality management in the medical laboratory) and ISO/TC 212 (Clinical Laboratory Testing and In vitro diagnostic test system, WG4: Microbiology and molecular diagnostic) contributing to the development of CEN and ISO standards for pre-analytical processing of blood and other body fluids for molecular in vitro diagnostic and for the analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells. She was involved in several national and international projects such as the FP7 SPIDIA project and the H2020 SPIDIA4P and she is currently responsible for UNIFI of the Instand-NGS4P project. She has published more than 148 publications in International peer reviewed journals (H-index: 39 Scopus - 47 Google Scholar ; Citations: 4828 Scopus - 6780 Google Scholar).
Member of the following Scientific Societies
SIBioC - Società Italiana di Biochimica Clinica e Biologia Molecolare Clinica - Medicina di Laboratorio
EFLM – European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
CEN European Committee for Standardization, CEN/TC140 (In vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices, WG3: Quality management in the medical laboratory)
ISO International Organization for Standardization: ISO/TC 212 (Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test system, WG4: Microbiology and molecular diagnostic)
Research Team
1) Pamela Pinzani Associate Professor in Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology, 15/11/1961
2) Lisa Simi PhD, 18/09/1972
3) Irene Mancini PhD, 21/06/1984
4) Caterina Bartolini, PhD Student in Biomedical Sciences 09/03/1997
Current research interests
Personalized Medicine
Liquid Biopsy: Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) and circulating DNA/RNA isolation and characterization Pharmacogenomics
Tumor DNA genotyping
DNA methylation
Gene expression analysis
Standardization: implementation of CEN and ISO technical standards on pre-analytical phase for molecular studies
Research interests
Personalized Medicine
Liquid Biopsy: Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) and Cell-free Nucleic Acids in plasma and other body fluids
Pharmacogenomics
DNA methylation
Gene expression analysis
Standardization: implementation of CEN and ISO technical standards on pre-analytical phase for molecular studies
Recent and present Funding
2017-2021 Horizon2020: SPIDIA4P-SPIDIA for Personalized Medicine – Standardisation of generic Pre-analytical procedures for Invitro Diagnostics-G.A. n. 733112
2020-2025 Regione Toscana: Bando Ricerca Salute 2018 Project Title: CORELAB: “New prediCtivebiOmaRkers of activity and Efficacy of immune check point inhibitors in advanced non small cell Lung cArcinoma (NSCLC)” Principal investigator: Dr. Carmelo Bengala USL Toscana-Sudest
2020-2025 European Project Instand-NGS4P: INtegrated and STANDardized NGS workflows FOR Personalized therapy (Call: H2020-SC1-2019-Single-Stage-RTD – Project Id: 874719). Coordinator: Prof. Kurt Zatloukal, MEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAT GRAZ.
2025 – 2028 European Project SPARC: Support of Personalized medicine Approaches in Cancer (Call: EU4H-2024-PJ-03 – Project Id: 101232874). Coordinator: Prof. Manuel Ottaviano, UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID
publications of the last 5 years
- Cantini G, Salvianti F, Armignacco R, Propato AP, Canu L, Ercolino T, Dedonno AA, Lepri C, Mannelli M, Nesi G, Pillozzi S, Defazio G, Pinzani P, Luconi M. An innovative nuclear antigen-based approach for single-cell isolation of circulating tumor cells in adrenal cortical carcinoma. J Liq Biopsy. 2025 Nov 19;10:100447. doi: 10.1016/j.jlb.2025.100447. PMID: 41362288; PMCID: PMC12681982.
- Gelmini S, Calabri A, Mancini I, Comin CE, Pasini V, Banini M, Scotti V, Pinzani P. Circulating Tumor Cell-Free DNA as Prognostic Biomarker in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Undergoing Immunotherapy: The CORELAB Experience. Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Jan 13;26(2):611. doi: 10.3390/ijms26020611. PMID: 39859325; PMCID: PMC11766022.
- Malentacchi F, Mancini I, Villari D, Forster M, Marzocco A, Galli IC, Viola L, Masieri L, Nesi G, Pinzani P. Cell-Free Carbonic Anhydrase IX mRNA in Urine as Biomarker for Urogenital Cancers: The Relationship Between Urinary Extracellular RNA and Tumor-Cell-Associated RNA. Curr Issues Mol Biol. 2024 Dec 6;46(12):13881-13892. doi: 10.3390/cimb46120829. PMID: 39727957; PMCID: PMC11727587.
- Lavacchi D, Gelmini S, Calabri A, Rossi G, Simi L, Caliman E, Mancini I, Salvianti F, Petroni G, Guidolin A, Scolari F, Messerini L, Pillozzi S, Pinzani P, Antonuzzo L. Early changes in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) predict treatment response in metastatic KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. Heliyon. 2023 Nov 4;9(11):e21853. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21853. PMID: 38027900; PMCID: PMC10663919.
- Devonshire A, Jones G, Gonzalez AF, Kofanova O, Trouet J, Pinzani P, Gelmini S, Bonin S, Foy C. Interlaboratory evaluation of quality control methods for circulating cell-free DNA extraction. N Biotechnol. 2023 Dec 25;78:13-21. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2023.09.005. Epub 2023 Sep 18. PMID: 37730172.
- Gaeta R, Righi A, Gambarotti M, Aretini P, Lessi F, Mazzanti CM, Mancini I, Pinzani P, Belgio B, Sbaraglia M, Tos APD, Franchi A. Chondroblastoma-like osteosarcoma: a clinicopathological and molecular study of a rare osteosarcoma variant. Histopathology. 2022 Sep;81(3):389-401. doi: 10.1111/his.14721. Epub 2022 Jul 19. PMID: 35791778.
- Francolini G, Loi M, Ciccone LP, Detti B, Di Cataldo V, Pinzani P, Salvianti F, Salvatore G, Sottili M, Santini C, Frosini G, Visani L, Burchini L, Mattioli C, Allegra AG, Valzano M, Cerbai C, Aquilano M, Salvestrini V, Desideri I, Mangoni M, Meattini I, Livi L. Prospective assessment of AR splice variant and multi-biomarker expression on circulating tumor cells of mCRPC patients undergoing androgen receptor targeted agents: interim analysis of PRIMERA trial (NCT04188275). Med Oncol. 2022 Jun 10;39(8):119. doi: 10.1007/s12032-022-01756-2. PMID: 35687207.
- Francolini G, Loi M, Salvestrini V, Mangoni M, Detti B, Di Cataldo V, Aquilano M, Pinzani P, Salvianti F, Desideri I, Mariotti M, Garlatti P, Stocchi G, Ciccone LP, Lucidi S, Salvatore G, Sottili M, Meattini I, Livi L. Prospective assessment of AR splice variant and PSMA detection on circulating tumor cells of mCRPC patients: preliminary analysis of patients enrolled in PRIMERA trial (NCT04188275). Clin Exp Metastasis. 2021 Oct;38(5):451-458. doi: 10.1007/s10585-021-10118-7. Epub 2021 Aug 19. PMID: 34410545; PMCID: PMC8510932.
- Salvianti F, Gelmini S, Mancini I, Pazzagli M, Pillozzi S, Giommoni E, Brugia M, Di Costanzo F, Galardi F, De Luca F, Castiglione F, Messerini L, Pinzani P, Antonuzzo L. Circulating tumour cells and cell-free DNA as a prognostic factor in metastatic colorectal cancer: the OMITERC prospective study. Br J Cancer. 2021 Jul;125(1):94-100. doi: 10.1038/s41416-021-01399-6. Epub 2021 May 5. PMID: 33953347; PMCID: PMC8257609.
- Pinzani P, D'Argenio V, Del Re M, Pellegrini C, Cucchiara F, Salvianti F, Galbiati S. Updates on liquid biopsy: current trends and future perspectives for clinical application in solid tumors. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2021 Feb 5;59(7):1181-1200. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2020-1685. PMID: 33544478.
- Baria E, Cicchi R, Malentacchi F, Mancini I, Pinzani P, Pazzagli M, Pavone FS. Supervised learning methods for the recognition of melanoma cell lines through the analysis of their Raman spectra. J Biophotonics. 2021 Mar;14(3):e202000365. doi: 10.1002/jbio.202000365. Epub 2020 Dec 18. PMID: 33305912.
- Cantini G, Canu L, Armignacco R, Salvianti F, De Filpo G, Ercolino T, Nesi G, Maggi M, Mannelli M, Pinzani P, Luconi M. Prognostic and Monitoring Value of Circulating Tumor Cells in Adrenocortical Carcinoma: A Preliminary Monocentric Study. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Oct 29;12(11):3176. doi: 10.3390/cancers12113176. PMID: 33138000; PMCID: PMC7693770.
- Villari D, Salvianti F, Zanazzi M, Martini A, Spatafora P, Caroassai Grisanti S, Sebastianelli A, Nicita G, Serni S, Pinzani P. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction Detection of Microchimerism in Female Transplant Renal Recipients. Urol Int. 2020;104(11-12):865-870. doi: 10.1159/000508796. Epub 2020 Sep 21. PMID: 32957110.
- Villari D, Salvianti F, Zanazzi M, Martini A, Spatafora P, Caroassai Grisanti S, Sebastianelli A, Nicita G, Serni S, Pinzani P. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction Detection of Microchimerism in Female Transplant Renal Recipients. Urol Int. 2020;104(11-12):865-870. doi: 10.1159/000508796. Epub 2020 Sep 21. PMID: 32957110.
- Cito G, Coccia ME, Salvianti F, Fucci R, Picone R, Giachini C, Cocci A, Falcone P, Micelli E, Verrienti P, Minervini A, Carini M, Pinzani P, Natali A. Blood plasma miR-20a-5p expression as a potential non-invasive diagnostic biomarker of male infertility: A pilot study. Andrology. 2020 Sep;8(5):1256-1264. doi: 10.1111/andr.12816. Epub 2020 Jun 8. PMID: 32406197.
- Lampignano R, Neumann MHD, Weber S, Kloten V, Herdean A, Voss T, Groelz D, Babayan A, Tibbesma M, Schlumpberger M, Chemi F, Rothwell DG, Wikman H, Galizzi JP, Riise Bergheim I, Russnes H, Mussolin B, Bonin S, Voigt C, Musa H, Pinzani P, Lianidou E, Brady G, Speicher MR, Pantel K, Betsou F, Schuuring E, Kubista M, Ammerlaan W, Sprenger-Haussels M, Schlange T, Heitzer E. Multicenter Evaluation of Circulating Cell-Free DNA Extraction and Downstream Analyses for the Development of Standardized (Pre)analytical Work Flows. Clin Chem. 2020 Jan 1;66(1):149-160. doi: 10.1373/clinchem.2019.306837. PMID: 31628139.
- Salvianti F, Gelmini S, Costanza F, Mancini I, Sonnati G, Simi L, Pazzagli M, Pinzani P. The pre-analytical phase of the liquid biopsy. N Biotechnol. 2020 Mar 25;55:19-29. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2019.09.006. Epub 2019 Sep 30. Erratum in: N Biotechnol. 2020 May 25;56:149. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2019.10.011. PMID: 31580920.
- Salvianti F, Gelmini S, Costanza F, Mancini I, Sonnati G, Simi L, Pazzagli M, Pinzani P. The pre-analytical phase of the liquid biopsy. N Biotechnol. 2020 Mar 25;55:19-29. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2019.09.006. Epub 2019 Sep 30. Erratum in: N Biotechnol. 2020 May 25;56:149. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2019.10.011. PMID: 31580920.
- Luchi N, Santini A, Salvianti F, Pinzani P. Early Detection of Fungal Plant Pathogens by Real-Time Quantitative PCR: The Case of Diplodia sapinea on Pine. Methods Mol Biol. 2020;2065:95-104. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9833-3_8. PMID: 31578690.
- Mancini I, Simi L, Salvianti F, Castiglione F, Sonnati G, Pinzani P. Analytical Evaluation of an NGS Testing Method for Routine Molecular Diagnostics on Melanoma Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tumor-Derived DNA. Diagnostics (Basel). 2019 Sep 12;9(3):117. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics9030117. PMID: 31547467; PMCID: PMC6787639.
Previous research experiences
Chemiluminescence and Bioluminescence
Immunoassay and luminescence assay in Endocrinology
Antioxidant capacity
Quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay
Collaborations
Prof. Andrea Galli
Prof.ssa Michaela Luconi (Dip. SBSC)
Prof Enrico Mini (Dip Medicina Sperimentle e Clinica)
Prof.ssa Daniela Massi (Dip Chirurgia e Medicina Translazionale)
Dr.ssa Cinzia Mazzini AOU Careggi-SOD Oculistica
Prof. Matteo Benelli (Dip. SBSC)
Prof. Icro Meattini (Dip. SBSC)
Ultimo aggiornamento
29.04.2026