About Us

Dr. Pappone serves as Director of the Department of Arrhythmology at the IRCCS Policlinico San Donato and Professor of Cardiology at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele.  His specialties include electrophysiology, catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias, nonfluoroscopic mapping, cardiac pacing, biventricular pacing, and nonexcitory cardiac contractility modulation.  He has authored more than 140 papers, spanning a range of subjects in Cardiology. 

Dr. Anastasia is a Professor of Biochemistry at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele.  His work links electrical abnormalities to contractile dysfunction through an understanding of the structure and function of epicardial membrane proteins.  His work extends from the characterization of small molecule biomarkers to the study of channelopathies in cellular and animal models with the aim of addressing the genetics of membrane protein polymorphism, and developing cell models of epicardial dysfunction applicable to human pathophysiology.  He guides Cardiomix scientists in developing models that relate genomic, transcriptomics, proteomic and metabalomic information with patient outcomes.  

Dr. Ciconte is an Associate Professor of Cardiology at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele.  He draws from a deep understanding of the pathophysiology of the myocardial substrate and its measure under clinical conditions to specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmogenic heart disease.  In addition to a degree in Medicine with Honors from San Raffaele University, he holds a PhD in Cardiovascular Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.  Since 2008, he has published 44 papers and given 40 presentations at international meetings.  

Dr. Petretto is a Professor of Biology at the Duke–National University of Singapore (NUS) Medical School.  His work at Cardiomix links critical cardiac determinants (e.g. proteins, genes, etc.) to functional pathways in the hearts of patients at risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD).  His team defines biochemical pathways of SCD by integrative genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics analyses in primary tissues and biological samples from at-risk patients and matched controls diagnosed in San Donato.  Studies applying machine learning to whole-genome sequence (WGS) data determine the key regulators of subtle cardiac channelopathies.  

Dr. Angarica conducts research that applies systems biology in the clinical, translational and molecular study of selected cardiomyopathies and hidden arrhythmogenic disorders.  This effort aims develop diagnostic approaches that link OMICS data with protein reactivity and clinical observables to find molecular dysregulations and genomic variations at the root of targeted syndromes.  This Cardiomix translational medicine product will combine genomics analyses, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, to diagnose cardiovascular disease on a personal level.

Ms. Tarantino studies plasma proteins and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as putative biomarkers of arrhythmogenic disease. Her work at Cardiomix extends to investigate alterations in genes involved in sialic acid pathways that activate arrhythmogenic immunity.  She graduated cum laude from the University of Parma in 2018 with an MSc in genomics and molecular biotechnology.  Her internship at Cardiomix, serves the purpose of a practical stage in her work toward a PhD degree in molecular medicine at University Vita-Salute San Raffaele.  

Mr. Villa has joined Cardiomix to perform real Time qPCR for typing single nucleotide polymorphisms. He will pool enriched, sequencing-ready libraries for targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS).  With combined expertise in biochemistry and cell biology, he will maintain cell cultures and assist in the development of CLiC microfluidic technologies for single-cell sequencing.  Villa holds a Master’s degree in industrial biotechnology from the University of Milan.