Francesca Buffa
PhD
Honorary Researcher
- Head of the Computational Biology and Intergative Genomics Lab, University of Oxford
- Full Professor of Computational Biology and Cancer Genomics, University of Oxford (until 2022)
- Full Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Computing Sciences Department, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy (since 2022)
- Principal Investigator, European Research Council, Micro-C
- Principal Investigator, Artificial Intelligence & Systems Biology, IFOM - ETS Foundation Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan, Italy (since 2023)
Biography
After a Masters Degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of Turin, Francesca completed a PhD in Physics and Mathematical Modelling at the Institute of Cancer Research, University of London. Francesca undertook postdoctoral research in analysis of imaging data at the ICR, and then joined the Statistics Group at the Gray Cancer Institute and the MRC Clinical Trials Unit, London, to work on biomarker research studies. Following this, Francesca joined the Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, first as a postdoctoral research fellow in systems biology, and then as Principal Investigator, Full Professor and Head of the Computational Biology and Integrative Genomics Lab.
In 2018 Francesca has been awarded a European Research Council Award, microC, developing new computational modelling techniques to decode the interaction and evolution of heterogeneus population of cells in a dynamic tumour microenvironment.
Since February 2022 Francesca holds a Full Professorship at the Department of Computing Sciences at Bocconi University in Milan, where she continues her research and teacheas undergraduate and post graduate courses in Computer Sciences, Artificial Intelligence and Bioinformatics. Since Novenber 2023, Francesca is also Principal Investigator at IFOM (ETS Foundation Institute of Molecular Oncology) in Milan, Italy, where she leads the Artificial Intelligence & Systems Biology Lab.
Francesca teaches at national and international Masters Courses and Advanced Schools, including Statistics and Bioinformatics in the MSc courses at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and at the Advanced Courses at the Wellcome Genome Campus, University of Cambridge, UK.
Francesca serves on several national and international committees, including funding agencies Horizon2020, the European Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the UK Research Institute and Cancer Research UK. Francesca is a member of governative evaluation panels, including service as member of the Biological Science Panel and Interdisciplinary Advisor for the REF-2021.
Francesca has also authored over 150 publications, several in high impact journals (Google Scholar, ORCID).