Society of Italian Researchers & Professionals in Western Canada

ARPICO is a not-for-profit volunteer based society operating in Western Canada, advocating public awareness of research activities that involve Italians or that may be of interest to the Italian community. The society offers an informal forum for discussion, debate and exchange of ideas related to topics relevant to modern society by facilitating networking and providing a point of reference and support for researchers, professionals, and governmental entities.

Join us as a member of ARPICO to support our endeavour to disseminate knowledge and research work, provide accesible and informal forums for discussions and debate, and exchange ideas realted to topics and issues relevant to modern society.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Nicola Fameli

President

Nicola is a freelance biophysicist formerly at the University of British Columbia. He spends most of his working time developing computational models of ionic transport in cytosolic nanospaces, very small spaces sandwiched between membranes inside our cells, without which cells don't work very well and can get diseased. He moved from Venice, Italy to Vancouver many years ago to pursue graduate studies in physics at UBC.

Giorgio Mammarella

Vice President

Giorgio is a developer and designer for web based content, from websites to interactive applications, client management systems and security.

Gabriella Sacchetti

Treasurer

Gabriella is a CPA, CA with an MBA from Queen’s University who worked for 6 years in public practice, and 9 years as a professor teaching accounting, finance and information systems. Over the last 15 years, she’s worked in financial leadership roles within subsidiaries requiring integration with parent companies before/after acquisition in a wide array of industries with companies in their start-up and growth phases. Her work has concentrated on translating strategic goals into operational best-practice procedures that aim to align operations and financial management reporting within tax, audit and securities compliance frameworks. Volunteer work on various boards afford her the opportunity to utilize her governance, financial, and organizational skills. Within ARPICO, she continues to serve as Treasurer and Membership Chair.

Franco Mammarella

Past President (2015-2016)

Franco Mammarella is the Group Leader for the ARIEL Infrastructures and Power Engineering Group at the Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, TRIUMF, located in Vancouver. He has a degree in Nuclear Power Engineering from the University of Rome, Italy. His current work focuses on leading the Civil and Infrastructures team for the ARIEL project, TRIUMF's flagship facility that plans to expand Canada's capabilities to produce and study isotopes for physics and medicine.

Vesna Sossi

Director

Vesna is a Professor in the UBC Physics and Astronomy Department and at the UBC Djavad Mowafaghian Center for Brain Health. She directs the UBC Positron Emission Tomography imaging centre, which is known for its use of imaging as applied to neurodegeneration with emphasis on Parkinson’s disease. Her main areas of interest comprise development of imaging methods to enhance the investigation of neurochemical mechanisms that lead to an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease and mechanisms that contribute to treatment-related complications. She uses PET imaging to explore how alterations of the different neurotransmitter systems contribute to different trajectories of disease progression. She published more than 180 peer review papers, is funded by several granting agencies, and sits on several national and international review panels.

Valentina Marchetti

Director

Valentina Marchetti is a senior scientist at Stem Cell Technologies, and adjunct professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University.

Pietro Giampa

Director

Pietro Giampa is a particle astrophysicist and the current holder of the prestigious Otto Hauser Fellowship at TRIUMF Laboratory - Canada’s Particle Accelerator in Vancouver, British Columbia. He earned his Ph.D. at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada following his completion of his Undergraduate and Master’s studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. Most of Pietro’s time is devoted to shining light on the dark side of the universe, with a particular emphasis on how dark matter interacts with the rest of the universe. Born and raised in Italy, Pietro still has firm Italian roots, visiting his parents and extended family in the Lombardy Region throughout the year.

PAST DIRECTORS

Lucio Sacchetti

Chair of the Board of Directors

President & CEO of CMC Engineering and Management Ltd.

Anadi Canepa

Past President (2011-2015)

Anadi Canepa is a Research Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Chicago, IL USA). Until September 2015, she had been a Research Scientist at TRIUMF, Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics (Vancouver, BC). She is an experimental particle physicist and works for the CMS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of Geneva, Switzerland. Anadi obtained her PhD at Purdue University (IN, USA) with her work on searches for Supersymmetry in proton-antiproton data at the Tevatron Collider. Her current area of research is New Phenomena such as Supersymmetry and Extra-dimensions at the energy frontier.

Alice Miceli

Director

Alice Miceli was a postdoctoral research associate at the Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, TRIUMF, located in Vancouver. She earned a doctoral degree in Physics from the University of Bologna for her studies on new 3D computer tomography systems at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Zurich, Switzerland). She is currently working on the development of new detectors for medical imaging.

Riccardo Comin

Director

Riccardo received his PhD degree from the University of British Columbia in 2013, where he has investigated and discovered new electronic properties of various classes of quantum materials using a variety of forefront techniques, including angle-resolved photoemission and resonant x-ray scattering. In 2014, Riccardo joined the University of Toronto as an NSERC post-doctoral fellow, and he is currently exploring the link between the fundamental electronic properties and the functionality of novel materials for photovoltaic applications. He is currently assistant professor of Physics in the Physics Department of the Massachusets Institute of Technology (MIT). Riccardo is from Udine, and has obtained both his B.Sc (2007) and M.Sc. (2009) in Physics at the University of Trieste, in Italy.

Daniele Buzzurro

Director

Daniele Buzzurro is the founder of DW DreamyourMind Srl, online advertising company located in Rome, Vancouver & Dubai. He is a teacher in universities & in private courses. More, he is a judge in many italian & international web & branding awards. Daniele is a blogger on Linkiesta, Web Totale & Amazing Cinema and he wrote Innesti, the italian version of Trash into Cash - La Tua Ridicola Idea da 1 Milione di Dollari & Il Filo di Arianna.

Eliana Beraldi

Director

Eliana Beraldi is a research assistant at the Prostate Centre in Vancouver. She obtained her BSc at the University of Calabria, Italy, and specialization in General Pathology from the University of Rome. She worked at CNR in Cosenza, Italy, before joining Dr Martin Gleave's group at the Prostate centre. Her current research is directed toward understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in prostate cancer progression.

Gabriele Toffoletti

Director

Gabriele Toffoletti is a Process Analyst working on informational/physical process set-up and improvements. His experience within the manufacturing and service industries has been integrated with a M.Sc. in Business Analysis and Process Improvement and a M.Sc. in Industrial Psychology and Human Factors Design. He enjoys working closely with R&D departments in order to facilitate the industrialization process of new products and to bridge the applied research culture with those of the other departments.

John Spinelli

Director

Dr. John J. Spinelli is a Distinguished Scientist and Head of Cancer Control Research at the BC Cancer Agency, Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University. He is the principal investigator for the BC Generations Project, part of the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project, the largest health study ever undertaken in Canada.

Serena Sorio

Director

Serena Sorio is an Architect graduated at Politecnico di Milano where she obtained both her Bachelor’s Degree (2006) and Master's Degree in Architecture (2008). Her work focuses on the study and research of new technologies and materials for energy saving in architecture.

Margherita Repetto-Alaia

Director

Margherita was the Director of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (the Italian Government Cultural Office) in Vancouver, B.C. from 1999 to 2003, and previously, 1994 to 1996, of the Institute in Washington, D.C. From 1983 to 1994 she was full time Lecturer in the Italian Department of Columbia University in New York, and she organized as well as contributed to symposia and conferences on historical and social topics related to Italy and Europe. In the Italian portion of her life -- a large one -- Margherita was actively engaged in political advocacy on behalf of women.

Lucia Nappi

Secretary

Dr. Lucia Nappi is a MD, specialized in medical oncology, with a PhD in molecular oncology and endocrinology. Her research activity at Vancouver Prostate Centre is focused on the discovery of new drugs targeting Hsp27, a molecular chaperone involved in the development of resistance to the standard therapy in prostate cancer. She also works at the BCCA in Vancouver as clinical fellow, where she treats mainly patients with genito-urinary tumors.

Mirko Miorelli

Director

Mirko Miorelli is a Ph.D. candidate in Theoretical Nuclear Physics at the University of British Columbia and graduate student at TRIUMF, Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics. Mirko is from Trento, he has obtained both his B.Sc (2011) and M.Sc. (2013) in Physics at the University of Trento, in Italy. His work focuses on the study of exact techniques for the investigation of nuclear structure and reactions for medium-mass nuclei such as the oxygen and calcium isotopes.

Claudio Erratico

Director

Claudio Erratico is PhD candidate at The University of British Columbia (Vancouver). He obtained his Master of Science degree in Environmental Sciences at "The University of Milano-Bicocca" (Milan, Italy). Claudio's current (as of 2011) area of research is in vitro investigation of P450-mediated metabolism of envronmental pollutants. Metabolism is considered a key factor in determining and, therefore, explaining bioaccumulation and toxicity of environmental pollutants both in humans and wildlife.

Marco Ciufolini

Director

Marco Ciufolini received a BS (1978) from Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, and a Ph.D. (1981) from the University of Michigan. After postdoctoral studies at Yale University (1982-84), he was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Rice University (Houston, Texas), where he became Full Professor in 1997. At the end of 1997 he accepted a chair of organic chemistry at the University of Lyon and the Ecole Superieure de Chimie, Physique et Electronique de Lyon (France), but in July 2004 he returned to North America as the Canada Research Chair in Synthetic Organic Chemistry at the University of British Columbia. His research interests focus on the development of new reactions for the assembly of N-containing compounds, the total synthesis of nitrogenous natural products, and medicinal chemistry.

Costanza Casiraghi

Director

Costanza Casiraghi was a PhD candidate in the department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, studying the role of viral infections as triggers of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. She is currently (as of 2016) a Research fellow in the Department of Specialised, Experimental, and Diagnostic Medicine of the University of Bologna, Italy. She is originally from Milan, Italy where she obtained her BSc degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies in 2007 from Universita Vita-Salute San Raffaele.

Damiano Angoli

Director

Damiano Angoli carried out his degree in Biology with Professor Enzo Wanke at the University of Milan where he examined the effects of intracellular pH on cell apoptosis. A visit to Vancouver, following an invitation, convinced Damiano to take himself and his piano to the west coast of Canada. He worked at University of British Columbia for the Cardiovascuolar Research Group, Department of Physiological Sciences (multi-tasking pacemaker channel research). He is a piano player, wine connosseur, importer/exporter, web designer and he dove 50 metres deep in the cold ocean with one breath, a skill that is very useful in the lab.