Radiobiology · Proton therapy · FLASH

Laboratory of Radiobiology

University of Trento

Welcome to our lab

Defining how emerging radiation technologies reshape tumour and normal-tissue biology

The Laboratory of Radiobiology studies molecular and cellular responses to conventional, proton and FLASH radiotherapy using cancer, normal-cell and advanced three-dimensional models.

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Principal investigator

Prof. Alessandra Bisio

Associate Professor of Genetics · Principal Investigator

Prof. Alessandra Bisio leads the Laboratory of Radiobiology at CIBIO, University of Trento. Her group investigates how ionising radiation shapes cell fate, tumour resistance and normal-tissue responses, with programmes centred on p21, abscopal signalling, advanced 3D systems, proton therapy and FLASH irradiation.

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Research programmes

Four connected challenges in modern radiobiology

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p21 helps determine whether irradiated cells repair damage and survive or enter cell death. Kuang et al., Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology (2021), open-access research figure.

p21 as a determinant of cancer-cell radioresistance

We investigate how p21-dependent arrest, DNA repair, survival and recovery shape tumour response to ionising radiation.

Radiation-induced immune activation and counter-regulation in the tumour microenvironment. Ebner et al., Frontiers in Immunology (2017), CC BY.

Abscopal signalling and immunoradiobiology

We study how local irradiation generates immune and bystander signals that can influence disease beyond the treated field.

Three-dimensional spheroid models reveal radiation-response behaviour not captured fully by monolayer cultures. Wegge et al., International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2023), CC BY 4.0.

Innovative 3D models of tumour and normal-tissue response

We develop spheroid and scaffold-based systems that reproduce tissue architecture, oxygen gradients and radiation responses more faithfully.

ElectronFlash research accelerator for ultra-high-dose-rate irradiation. Di Martino et al., Frontiers in Physics (2020), CC BY.

FLASH and high-dose-rate particle radiotherapy

We characterise biological responses to ultra-high-dose-rate and particle beams to understand how emerging modalities may widen the therapeutic window.

Selected publications