Andrea Ciliberto

Andrea Ciliberto, a biologist expert in the mathematical modeling of biological processes, directs the Quantitative Biology of Cell Division research program at IFOM.

Born in Florence in 1971, Ciliberto graduated from the University of Florence in 1995 with a degree in Biological Sciences, defending a thesis on the dynamics of replication in cell populations.

From the beginning of his academic career, Ciliberto has also had a strong interest in the applications of mathematics to the life sciences. He reconciled these two passions after graduation, by specializing in the mathematical modeling of biological processes.

During his Ph.D. in Genetics - obtained in 2000 from the University of Pavia - Ciliberto began working with John Tyson, an American scientist with expertise in the biosciences from a mathematical perspective, preparing his thesis in Tyson's laboratory at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

He remained at Virginia Tech until 2003, to develop mathematical models of the cell division cycle.

He then returned to Europe to work three years in Budapest, at Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Study, and at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he further acquired mathematical tools to analyze molecular systems under the guidance of Bela Novak.

During this period, the use of mathematics for analyzing the dynamical properties of molecular networks went through a real 'explosion', and a whole new discipline, systems biology, was born. It was then that IFOM decided to bet on this new approach, asking Ciliberto in 2005 to establish a new Quantitative Biology of Cell Division program.

At IFOM Ciliberto has the opportunity to combine biology and mathematics, using a quantitative approach to study the mechanisms that control cell proliferation.