Dr. ANDREA DI FRANCESCO was born in San Benedetto del Tronto (AP, Italy) on 1986.04.18. He holds a degree in Medical Biotechnolgy (2012), with a thesis titled "Functional validation of in vivo interaction between microRNAs and mRNA targets in DNA damage response". Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Pathology (2017) achieved thanks to his research on microRNAs as new biomarkers  of  different types of rejections in heart transplanted patients. He has been visiting research fellow at Ludwig-Maximillian University in Munich, Germany (8 months: February-October 2017), where he worked under the supervisor ship of prof. Andreas Schober on the-in situ PCR applied on monitoringFFPE-EMBs in order to identify the cell type expressing the microRNAs. Post-doc fellow research in Dept.of Cardiac,Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health at the University of Padua. His research interest concern on microRNAs and exosomes as biomarkers of heart rejection, infections after transplantation and their role in the pathophysiological mechanism of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) in heart transplant, under supervisor ship of Prof. Annalisa Angelini. The outcome of his research was presented through oral presentations and posters during many national and international meetings. He had published 2 papers as first author  in international ISI journals and many others as co-author.