I studied maths during college.. computational algebra, topology, statistics, math applied to physic, story of math(Al-kuwaritzmi was my favourite part!)... a lot of different aspects related to calculations and idea of numbers. But what I regret is that nobody never told me that math and genetics were married (Mathematicians could say: “Nothing can survive without math”, but anyway..).

After I graduated I started to work in a molecular genetic lab, and I was definitely feeling a little “dumb”.. I could not remember the biology stuff I study during the high school.. what the hell is a chromosome? a gene? a nucleotide??? Mitocondrial DNA seemed to me a “bad word”.. Then I started to go deeper and deeper in the field, knowing about statistical genetics: the wedding.

All the theory on statistics, analysis, programming found a reason to exist: we can use all those infinite (but still numerable) formulas to calculate the probability that one particular mutation is associated to a disease. Do that for more than 2million mutation in more than 30 thousand individuals.. I had to forget about using  paper and pen to write calculations..  programming!! If , else, while, and foreach are now included on my vocabulary, as well as SNP, haplotype, copy number variations and many, many others.

I learned how life can change, how we grow studying, how big is the science’s world. I just know a small part of it... if you are curious to know about my research, click on some of the link and ... good luck!!

On a side note, I have also been active in demonstrations against the Italian laws, intended to further reduce money for education and research. Follow the link on the left menu for more information - but be aware it is all in Italian..