Martina De Bortoli Awarded a 2025-2026 American-Italian Cancer Foundation Research Fellowship

Wistar’s Martina De Bortoli, postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Jessie Villanueva, won a one-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the American-Italian Cancer Foundation to support her research on acral melanoma.

“I’m honored and excited to receive this Fellowship from the American-Italian Cancer Foundation, and I look forward to meeting and collaborating with the other Fellows that received this award,” said Martina.  “There is a real need to study acral melanoma because it is a less common type of melanoma so there are fewer therapeutic options, but it also doesn’t respond to the same kind of therapies that are applied to cutaneous melanoma (melanoma that originates in melanocytes or pigment-producing skin cells). I hope my research can help shed light on future therapeutic options.”

Martina received her Ph.D. in the genetics of vascular malformation from UCLouvain and is excited to integrate that work with her current melanoma research. Here at Wistar, Martina investigates how the tumor vasculature and the surrounding tumor microenvironment contribute to therapy resistance in melanoma. 

“I’m most interested in how the vascular system feeds a tumor and I want to find ways to target the abnormal tumor vasculature to improve drug delivery and effectiveness, with the ultimate goal of improving treatment outcomes.”

Acral melanoma, a less common subtype of melanoma, can be found on the hairless areas of the skin and is limited to nail beds, palms of hands and soles of feet. It can look like a dark spot or streak and is more common in people of color but can affect people of all ethnicities. It is also not primarily associated with UV exposure, unlike other melanomas.