Francesco Cerutti
Born on June 18, 1984 in Torino, Italy
University of Torino
Department of Animal production, Epidemiology and Ecology
Via Leonardo da Vinci, 44
10059 Grugliasco (TO), Italy
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Email:
(+39) 011 670 9197
(+39) 011 670 9197
[email protected]
[email protected]
Education
January 2009 - present
PhD Candidate, School of Veterinary Sciences, Program in Basic Sciences and Veterinary Biotechnology,
Universitá degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy.
2006 - 2008
M.S. in Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Universitá degli Studi di Torino,
Torino, Italy.
Title obtained on September 22nd 2008 with a final grade of 110/110
Title of thesis: “Pathogenesis of diserythropoiesis in malarial anemia. Modulation of the proliferation
of erythroid precursors by malarial pigment (haemozoin) and 4 - hydroxinonenal”.
Supervisor: prof. Paolo Arese
2003 - 2006
BS in Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology, Universitá degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy.
Title obtained on July 21st 2006 with a final grade of 101/110
Title of thesis: “Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction in diagnosis for Hepatitis C Virus infections”.
Supervisor: Dr. Valeria Ghisetti
1998 - 2003
Scientific High School “Carlo Cattaneo” in Torino, Italy
Scientific Degree with final grade of 100/100.
Additional educational experience
7-8 October 2010: Perl for biologists, CINECA, Bologna, Italy
27 August – 1 September 2010: Italian Workshop on phylogenetic methods and applications, Abbiategrasso (MI), Italy
31 August – 3 September 2009: Italian Workshop on phylogenetic methods and applications, Asti,
Italy
29 June – 3 July 2009: XVI BioStAt 2009 – International advanced school on statistical inference in
biology and human sciences
8-11 June 2009: 4th Summer school in optimization by evolutionary algorithms – Porquerolles island,
Hyéres, France.
13-24 October 2008: Course in Base Laboratory for Tropical Countries – Ospedale "Sacro Cuore – Don
Calabria", Negrar (VR), Italy.
Francesco Cerutti
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Professional experience
October 2009 - May 2010: Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, working with Prof.
Tony L. Goldberg on molecular and computational approaches to the epidemiology and ecology of
West Nile virus, Culex flavivirus and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus.
November – December 2008; August 2009: Volunteer work at the clinical laboratory of the St. John
Hospital, Lugarawa, Ludewa District, Tanzania, devoted in teaching the laboratory students, in laboratory maintenance and arranging laboratory equipments.
October 2007 - May 2008; January 2009-May 2009; October-December 2010: Teaching assistant of
the laboratory of Bioinformatics for the Biotechnology students, under the supervision of Dr. Mario
Giacobini, Principal Investigator of the Computational Biology Unit, Molecular Biotechnology Centre,
University of Torino. The program includes an introduction to MS Windows Operating System, MS
Office Pack, UNIX and Linux operating systems and PERL Programming.
Academic Year 2007-2008: Stage with Prof. Paolo Arese, Department of Biochemistry, Biology and Genetics, University of Torino. Topics: 1) Plasmodium falciparum response to oxidative stress; 2)pathogenesis of the inefficient erythropoiesis during malarial anemia.
Academic Years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007: Stage with Dr. Valeria Ghisetti at Microbiology Laboratory,
Molinette Hospital, Torino, Italy, where I was introduced to the PCR-based techniques, sequencing
and sequence data analysis, working on Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and Herpes
Viruses.
Personal skills and competences
Language skills
English
Reading: very good
Writing: very good
Oral: very good
French
Reading: good
Writing: good
Oral: good
Kiswahili
Reading: basic knowledge
Writing: basic knowledge
Oral: basic knowledge
Spanish
Reading: basic knowledge
Writing: basic knowledge
Oral: basic knowledge
Francesco Cerutti
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Computing skills
Optimal knowledge of Window OS, Mac OS, and Linux Operating System, MS Office, Internet browsers.
Good knowledge in LaTeX, PERL, Python, R software and bioinformatics softwares for sequence analysis
and phylogenetics (Mesquite, PAUP*, Mega4, MrBayes, BEAST).
Social skills
During my experience in Scout movement I have been involved several times in workgroups and I am
used to work with people, despite differences of points of view.
Publications
F. Cerutti, L. Bertolotti, T. Goldberg, and M. Giacobini, “Taxon ordering in phylogenetic trees: a workbench test,” BMC Bioinformatics, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 58, 2011
C. M. Newman, F. Cerutti, T. K. Anderson, G. L. Hamer, E. D. Walker, U. D. Kitron, M. O. Ruiz, J. D.
Brawn, and T. L. Goldberg, “Culex flavivirus and West Nile virus mosquito co-infection and positive
ecological association in Chicago, USA,” Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, vol. in press, pp. 1–10, 2011
F. Cerutti, L. Bertolotti, T. L. Goldberg, and M. Giacobini, “Taxon order in phylogenetic trees by means
of population evolutionary algorithms,” Biodata Mining, p. submitted, 2011
F. Cerutti, L. Bertolotti, T. L. Goldberg, and M. Giacobini, “Adding Vertical Meaning to Phylogenetic
Trees by Artificial Evolution,” Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL 2009),
vol. LNCS/LNAI, no. 5777, 5778, p. in press, 2011
F. Cerutti, L. Bertolotti, T. Goldberg, and M. Giacobini, “Investigating Populational Evolutionary Algorithms to Add Vertical Meaning in Phylogenetic Trees,” in Evolutionary Computation, Machine Learning
and Data Mining in Bioinformatics (C. Pizzuti, M. D. Ritchie, and M. Giacobini, eds.), vol. 6023 of Lecture
Notes in Computer Science, (Berlin, Heidelberg), pp. 240–247, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2010
T. Allice, F. Cerutti, F. Pittaluga, S. Varetto, A. Franchello, M. Salizzoni, and V. Ghisetti, “Evaluation
of a novel real-time PCR system for cytomegalovirus DNA quantitation on whole blood and correlation with pp65-antigen test in guiding pre-emptive antiviral treatment.,” Journal of virological methods,
vol. 148, pp. 9–16, Mar. 2008
T. Allice, F. Cerutti, F. Pittaluga, S. Varetto, S. Gabella, A. Marzano, A. Franchello, and V. Ghisetti,
“Comparison of the Cobas Ampliprep/Cobas TaqMan HBV Test versus the Cobas Amplicor HBV
monitor for HBV-DNA detection and quantification during antiviral therapy.,” The new microbiologica,
vol. 31, pp. 27–35, Jan. 2008
F. Pittaluga, T. Allice, M. L. Abate, A. Ciancio, F. Cerutti, S. Varetto, G. Colucci, A. Smedile, and
V. Ghisetti, “Clinical evaluation of the COBAS Ampliprep/COBAS TaqMan for HCV RNA quantitation
in comparison with the branched-DNA assay.,” Journal of medical virology, vol. 80, pp. 254–60, Feb. 2008
T. Allice, F. Cerutti, F. Pittaluga, S. Varetto, S. Gabella, A. Franchello, M. Rinaldi, and V. Ghisetti, “Whole
blood real-time PCR for cytomegalovirus DNA quantification: analysis of PCR data and pp65 antigen
test in a cohort of solid-organ transplant recipients,” International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, vol. 29,
no. supplement 2, pp. S148–S149, 2007
T. Allice, F. Cerutti, F. Pittaluga, S. Varetto, S. Gabella, A. Marzano, A. Franchello, G. Colucci, and
V. Ghisetti, “COBAS AmpliPrep-COBAS TaqMan hepatitis B virus (HBV) test: a novel automated realtime PCR assay for quantification of HBV DNA in plasma.,” Journal of clinical microbiology, vol. 45,
pp. 828–34, Mar. 2007
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Communications in international conferences
Goldberg T, Kitron U, Ruiz M, Walker E, Brawn J, Hamer G, Anderson T, Chaves L, Bertolotti L, Amore
G, Cerutti F, Krebs B, Newman C. Transmission, amplification and evolution of West Nile virus in chicago,
USA.American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 59th Annual Meeting – Atlanta, GA, USA,
November 3 − 7, 2010 (oral presentation).
Newman C, Cerutti F, Anderson T, Hamer G, Walker E, Kitron U, Ruiz M, Brawn J, Goldberg T. Culex
flavivirus enhances West Nile virus mosquito infection, Chicago USA. American Society of Tropical Medicine
and Hygiene 59th Annual Meeting – Atlanta, GA, USA, November 3 − 7, 2010 (poster presentation).
Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Goldberg TL, Giacobini M. Vertical Meaning in Phylogenetic Trees: a Workbench
Test. 10th International Conference on Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics of Infectious
Diseases – Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 3 − 5 November, 2010 (oral presentation).
Goldberg T, Kitron U, Ruiz M, Walker E, Brawn J, Hamer G, Anderson T, Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Amore
G, Newman C. Urbanization and West Nile virus transmission in Chicago, USA. EcoHealth 2010 Conference
– London, UK, 18 − 20 August, 2010 (oral presentation).
Bertolotti L, Bisanzio D, Cerutti F, Mosca A, Balbo L, Vazquez-Prokopec GM, Kitron U, Giacobini M.
Spatial analysis and molecular studies of mosquito vectors and West Nile Virus in Piedmont, Northern Italy.
International Conference EDEN 2010 – Le Corum, Montpellier, France, May 10 − 12, 2010 (poster
presentation).
Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Goldberg TL, Giacobini M. Investigating Populational Evolutionary Algorithms to
Add Vertical Meaning in Phylogenetic Trees. EvoBio 2010 – Istanbul, Turkey, April 7 − 9, 2010 (poster
presentation and full article).
Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Goldberg TL, Giacobini M. Adding Vertical Meaning to Phylogenetic Trees by Artificial Evolution. Understanding emergence of infectious diseases: focus on new experimental and
theoretical approaches to virus evolution – Roscoff, France, September 26 − 30, 2009 (poster presentation).
Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Goldberg TL, Giacobini M. Adding Vertical Meaning to Phylogenetic Trees by Artificial Evolution. Advances in Artificial life: ECAL 2009 - 10th European Conference on the Simulation
and Synthesis of Living Systems – Budapest, Hungary, 14 − 16 September 2009 (poster presentation
and full article).
Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Goldberg TL, Giacobini M. Artificial Evolution to Add Vertical Meaning to Phylogenetic Trees. 4th Summer school in optimization by evolutionary algorithms – Porquerolles island,
Hyéres, France, June 8 − 11, 2009 (poster presentation).
Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Ghisetti V, Giacobini M. West Nile Virus emergence in Piedmont, Northern Italy:
from molecular to computational approach. 5th European Mosquito Control Association Workshop, Turin,
Italy, March 9 − 13, 2009 (poster presentation).
Cerutti F, Bertolotti L, Ghisetti V, Giacobini M. West Nile Virus emergence in Piedmont, Northern Italy:
from molecular to computational approach. 3rd EWDA Student Workshop 2009, Veyrier-du-Lac, France,
March 19 − 22, 2009 (poster presentation).
Allice T, Cerutti F, Pittaluga F, Varetto S, Gabella S, Franchello A, Rinaldi M, Ghisetti V. Whole blood
real-time PCR for cytomegalovirus DNA quantification: analysis of PCR data and pp65 antigen test in a cohort
of solid-organ transplant recipients. 17th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious
Diseases, Munich, Germany, March 31–April 3, 2007 (poster presentation).
Francesco Cerutti
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Allice T, Gabella S, Varetto S, Pittaluga F, Smedile A, Cerutti F, Ghisetti V. Real-time polymerase chain
reaction and HCV RNA quantification: comparison of Cobas Ampliprep-Cobas TaqMan and branched DNA
technology. 16th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Nice, France,
April 1 − 4, 2006 (poster presentation).
Communications in national conferences
Cerutti F, Giacobini M, Goldberg TL, Bertolotti L. Molecular epidemiology: improving the interpretation of
phylogenetic trees by artificial evolution. 5th Workshop Italiano di Epidemiologia Veterinaria (5th Italian
Workshop of Veterinary Epidemiology) – Torino, Italy, December 10 − 11, 2009 (submitted).
Cerutti F, Allice T, Gabella S, Pittaluga F, Varetto S, Giliberto G, Martelli S, Smedile A, Ghisetti V,
Marchiaro G. Real-time PCR per la ricerca di HCV RNA nel plasma. 30th AMCLI National Congress –
Torino, Italy, 19 − 22 September 2006 (poster presentation).
De Masi A, Cerutti F, Allice T, Pittaluga F, Varetto S, Martelli S, Giliberto G, Gabella S, Marzano A,
Colucci G, Ghisetti V, Marchiaro G. Quantizzazione di HBV-DNA in Real-time PCR: Cobas Ampliprepł/Cobas
Taqmanł HBV test. 30a˛ AMCLI National Congress – Torino, Italy, 19 − 22 September 2006 (poster presentation).
Last updated: March 8, 2011
