STSM Report: Francesca Perutelli

I am Francesca Perutelli and I am a medical doctor at the Department of Haematology of the University of Pisa, Italy. In January went to Newcastle for a 2 month STSM for Working Group 2 on ‘Molecular and Cellular Biomarkers of Chronic Graft versus Host Disease (cGvHD)’, which was hosted by Professor Anne Dickinson, Hematological Sciences, Newcastle University.

My principle aim for this period was to perform a literature review and survey the molecular markers that are demonstrated to be predictors of cGvHD to date. With the cooperation of Dr Rachel Crossland, I conducted a PubMed search and performed screening of ~300 articles. My preliminary results were shown at the a COST Working Group meeting in Pisa, via an oral presentation. Thanks to the collaboration with other COST members, the first draft of the article “Review of Genetic Variation as a Predictive Biomarker for Chronic Graft-versus-Host-Disease after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation” was completed.

My STSM to Newcastle has been a great opportunity to see how people can successfully work together. My group organized several conference calls, developed methods for sharing files through Dropbox and a reference group in Mendeley was created. Less tangible, but not less important outcomes were the positive collaboration between COST members in writing the article, knowledge exchange and networking with other Institutions within the Action. All the COST members involved in the review paper were really supportive and collaborative with me.

During my STSM in Newcastle I also attended a GVHD clinic at the Newcastle Freeman Hospital, under the supervision of Dr Amy Publicover. Direct contact with patients gave me the opportunity to observe the current management of cGvHD from another point of view, thus contributing to new ideas for the article review as well as for future projects of this COST Action and my own knowledge.