Dr. Fabio Caliendo obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical and Experimental Immunology from the University of Genova, where he investigated how the tumor microenvironment and chemotherapeutic drugs influence the microRNA profile of natural killer cells and shape their antitumor functions. Following his Ph.D., Fabio joined the laboratory of Dr. Velia Siciliano at the Italian Institute of Technology, where he applied synthetic biology principles to design molecular tools for monitoring and reprogramming immune cell states. Fabio then joined the laboratory of Professor Ron Weiss at MIT, where he expanded his work in synthetic biology by integrating principles of control engineering into the design of genetic circuits. There, he developed strategies to monitor endogenous transcriptional and post-transcriptional programs in mammalian cells and connect them to programmable responses as cells transition between functional states. 

As an Assistant Professor in the Naik lab, Fabio is interested in leveraging his interdisciplinary background to understand how immune cells interact with their surrounding environment and to develop molecular devices to decode and therapeutically modulate cell state transitions and cellular interactions driving tumor immune evasion, chronic inflammation, and impaired tissue repair.