Nicoletta Sacchi (born August 20, 1949) is an Italian professor of

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is the co-discoverer of the

acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction Acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction (abbreviated AGPC) is a liquid–liquid extraction technique in biochemistry and molecular biology. It is widely used for isolating RNA (as well as DNA and protein in some cases). This metho ...

method to extract RNA from biological samples with Trizol. As a consequence of this groundbreaking discovery she is now considered the most cited woman scientist in the world.

Career

Sacchi was born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and studied for her PhD at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

in 1972, investigating the

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

. She remained within the fields of genetics for her postdoctoral training at the same University and

Erasmus University Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public university, public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus, Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christia ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. Sacchi worked on the generation of antibody repertoires by the TdT

DNA polymerase A DNA polymerase is a member of a family of enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of DNA molecules from nucleoside triphosphates, the molecular precursors of DNA. These enzymes are essential for DNA replication and usually work in groups to create t ...

in the lab of Georges Köhler at the Basel Institute for Immunology. She moved to the US in 1982 and switched to cancer research, focussing on the analysis of the genetics of patient samples at

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

. This required a high yield technique to extract RNA from scarce paediatric

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

samples, so her and colleague Piotr Chomczynski developed a new method to extract the nucleic acid. Since the publication of the technique in 1987 it has become ubiquitous in biological research, earning the paper the accolade of being one of the most cited in history. Sacchi went back to the University of Milan in 1991 and was promoted to professor. Unsatisfied with research in Italy she spent time back in the US as a visiting professor at the Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. In 2003 she joined the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center where she continues to study the role of genetics and the

epigenome In biology, the epigenome of an organism is the collection of chemical changes to its DNA and histone proteins that affects when, where, and how the DNA is expressed; these changes can be passed down to an organism's offspring via transgenerat ...

on cancer development. Sacchi has previously criticised the culture of science in her home nation of Italy, describing the system as “fairly corrupt” and ignorant of the achievements of female scientists. She believes that this has led to brain drain of trained researchers.

Accolades

In 2001 Sacchi was proclaimed a “Highly Cited Researcher in Biology and Biochemistry” by the

Institute for Scientific Information The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis, ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In 2007 the Italian

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

awarded Sacchi with the Commander of Merit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacchi, Nicoletta Italian expatriates in the United States Expatriate academics in the United States University of Milan alumni Italian expatriates in Switzerland Italian expatriates in Germany Living people Italian oncologists Italian women scientists 1949 births