Georgia-Myrto Prifti

Biography

I am Georgia-Myrto Prifti, originally from Greece and born on December 18th, 1998. I earned my MPharm in Pharmacy from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2021, followed by an MPhil in Medicinal Chemistry from the same institution in 2023. Transitioning to Copenhagen, I embarked on a six-month Erasmus+ Internship in Medicinal Chemistry at the Technical University of Denmark. So far, my focus has been on the design and synthesis of antiviral compounds targeting Hepatitis B and SARS-CoV-2, with a minor involvement in anticancer compound research. Joining the GlyCanDrug network presents an exciting opportunity for me to contribute to this exceptional project.

Research project objectives

The research project aims to develop synthetic approaches for precisely targeting cancer glycosylation. Specifically, it focuses on delivering therapeutics to cancer cells with precision. This involves conjugating cell organelles-targeting molecules with selected synthetic glycosyltransferase inhibitors to enhance their efficacy in cancer cell targeting. Additionally, nanoparticles decorated with Tn/STn-specific scFv antibodies will be prepared for selective targeting of cancer cells, ensuring high specificity and minimizing off-target effects. The project will also involve evaluating the intracellular fate of synthetic constructs within cancer cells to understand their mechanisms of action and optimize therapeutic outcomes. Furthermore, glycoengineering studies will be conducted to analyze the glycoprofile of engineered cancer cells treated with synthetic constructs, providing insights into changes in glycosylation patterns and their implications for therapeutic response.

PhD School in Chemical Science XXXIX Cycle (University of Florence, Department of Chemistry ‘Ugo Schiff’, UNIFI-DICUS)

The host laboratories (DICUS–UNIFI) are equipped with modern equipment for organic synthesis and nanomaterials, including 400MHz NMR spectroscopy facilities, a state of the art cryo-electron microscope (cryo-EM), polarimeter, DLS, microwave reactors, HPLCs, FT-IR, and mass (GC/MS, ESI/MS) spectrometers, UV-Vis spectrophotometers, freeze dryers, and centrifuges. Full access to the literature databases (Reaxys, Web of Science, ScFinder) and on-line access to the primary lit. https://www.chim.unifi.it/vp-363-strumentazione-dipartimentale.html

Selected papers (10):

  1. Biagiotti G.; G. Toniolo G.; Albino M.; Severi M.; Andreozzi P.; Marelli M.; Kokot H.; Tria G.; Guerri A.; Sangregorio C.; Rojo J.; Berti D.; Marradi M.; Cicchi S.; Urbancˇicˇ I.; van Kooyk Y.; Chiodo F.; Richichi B. Simple engineering of hybrid cellulose nanocrystal–gold nanoparticles results in a functional glyconanomaterial with biomolecular recognition properties. Nanoscale Horizons, 2023, DOI: 10.1039/d3nh00063j
  2. Tricomi, J.; Cacaci, M.; Biagiotti, G.; Caselli, L.; Niccoli, F.; Torelli, R. Gabbani, A.; Di Vito, M.; Pineider, F.; Severi, M.; Sanguinetti, M.; Menna, E.; Lelli, M.; Berti, D.; Cicchi, S.; Bugli, F.; Richichi, B. Ball Milled Glyco-graphene oxide conjugates markedly disrupted Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm, Nanoscale, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D2NR02027K.
  3. Biagiotti, G.; Legnani, L.; Aresta, G.; Chiacchio, M.A.; Richichi, B.  Benzo[c][1,2]thiazine-Based Analogs in the Inverse Electron Demand [4+2] Hetero Diels-Alder Reaction with Glycals: Access to Tetracyclic Fused Galactose and Fucose Derivatives. Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2022, e202200769. doi: 10.1002/ejoc.202200769.
  4. Anderluh, M.; Berti, F.; Bzducha‐Wróbel, A.; Chiodo, F.; Colombo, C.; Compostella, F.; Durlik, K.; Ferhati, X.; Holmdahl, R.; Jovanovic, D.; Kaca, W.; Lay, L.; Marinovic‐Cincovic, M.; Marradi, M.; Ozil, M.; Polito, L.; Reina, J.J.; Reis, C.A.; Sackstein, R.; Silipo, A.; Švajger, U.; Vaněk, O.; Yamamoto, F.; Richichi, B.; S. J. van Vliet, Recent advances on smart glycoconjugate vaccines in infections and cancer. FEBS J., 2021, doi: 10.1111/febs.15909
  5. Martin, K.C.; Tricomi, J.; Corzana, F.; García-García, A.; Ceballos-Laita, L.; Hicks, T.; Monaco, S.; Angulo, J.; Hurtado-Guerrero, R.; Richichi, B.; Sackstein, R. Fucosyltransferase-specific inhibition via next generation of fucose mimetics. ChemCommun, 2021, 57, 1145-1148.
  6. Biagiotti G.; Purić E.; Urbančič I.; Krišelj A.; Weiss M.; Mravljak J.; Gellini C.; Lay L.; Chiodo F.; Anderluh M.; Cicchi S.; Richichi B. Combining cross-coupling reaction and Knoevenagel condensation in the synthesis of glyco-BODIPY probes for DC-SIGN super-resolution bioimaging. BioorgChem, 2021, 109, 104730.
  7. Andreozzi P.; Simó C.; Moretti P.; Martinez Porcel J.; Ursula Lüdtke T.; de los Angeles Ramirez M.; Tamberi L.; Marradi M.; Amenitsch H.; Llop J.; Grazia Ortore M.; Moya S.E. Novel Core–Shell Polyamine Phosphate Nanoparticles Self-Assembled from PEGylated Poly (allylamine hydrochloride) with low toxicity and increased in vivo circulation time, Small 2021, 17, 2102211. DOI: 10.1002/smll.202102211.
  8. Vetro M.; Safari, D.; Fallarini, S.; Salsabila K.; Lahmann M.; Penadés, S.; Lay L.; Marradi M.; Compostella F. Preparation and immunogenicity of gold glyco-nanoparticles as antipneumococcal vaccine model Nanomedicine 2017, 12(1), 13–23. DOI: 10.2217/nnm-2016-0306
  9. Chiodo F.; Marradi M.; Park J.; Ram A.F.J.; Penadés S.; van Die I.; Tefsen B.Galactofuranose-Coated Gold Nanoparticles Elicit a Proinflammatory Response in Human Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells and Are Recognized by DC-SIGN. ACS Chem. Biol. 2014, 9, 383−389. DOI: 10.1021/cb4008265
  10. Terán-Navarro H.; Zeoli A.; Salines-Cuevas D.; Marradi M.; Montoya N.; Gonzalez-Lopez E.; Ocejo-Vinyals J.G.; Dominguez-Esteban M.; Gutierrez-Baños J.L.; Campos-Juanatey F.; Yañez-Diaz S.; Garcia-Castaño A.; Rivera F.; Duran I.; Alvarez-Dominguez C. Gold Glyconanoparticles Combined with 91–99 Peptide of the Bacterial Toxin, Listeriolysin O, Are Efficient Immunotherapies in Experimental Bladder Tumors. Cancers 2022, 14, 2413. DOI: 10.3390/cancers14102413