Elena Nicolì

development of nanocarriers for gene/ siRNA delivery for cancer gene therapy. Use of human serum albumin (HSA) for increasing cell transfection of polyethylenimine (PEI)-siRNA polyplexes in human primary endothelial cells and tumor cell lines; - characterization of HSA-PEI-siRNA complexes: dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM); - cell culture of human primary cells and tumor cell lines.

human primary osteoblasts isolation from trabecular bone and cell culture; - use of nanocarriers for gene/siRNA delivery for bone Tissue Engineering; - cell transfection "in vitro" and characterization of nanoparticles and biomaterials, focused on cell biocompatibility and osteoblast differentiation and mineralization (LDH assay, MTT assay, Western-blot analysis, ALP test, Real-Time PCR, Sirius Red staining, calcein staining, Comet assay); - Immuno-fluorescence and immuno-histochemistry techniques.

bio-dynamic ex vivo studies of human umbelical vein sections, testing cell viability and integrity of the tissue: use of bio-reactor, MTT assay, Microtomy and preparation of paraffin sections, haematoxylin-eosin staining; - purification of human lipoaspirate and use of specific growth factors for inducing cartilage differentiation of pre-adipocytes, to be used as an autologous scaffold for cartilage regeneration.