About me:

Following graduation from the University of Turin, in Italy, Elisa joined the Monogenic diabetes group in Exeter in 2011 as a PhD student. The PhD was funded by the European Union as part of the Marie Curie Initial Training netweork - BOLD (Biology of Liver and Pancreas Disease) project. During her PhD Elisa investigated the role of transcription factors important for pancreatic development in pathogenesis of neonatal diabetes.

Following completion of her PhD in 2014, Elisa has continued her research to identify of novel genetic causes of neonatal diabetes using whole genome sequencing, first as a a Naomi Berrie Research fellow in Diabetes (2015-2016) and then as a post-doctoral research fellow on a Wellcome Trust grant. During this time Elisa has contributed to the identification of novel genetic causes of neonatal diabetes, with the latest one being recently published on the Journal of Clinical Investigation (De Franco et al 2020 PMID: 33164986).

Elisa has also worked part-time as a Healthcare scientist as part of the NHS Exeter exome service between August 2017 and August 2019. During this time she has worked on analysed exome sequencing data from patients with a wide range of disease and she has contributed to the identification of novel genetic causes of various developmental disorders.

On September 1st 2019, Elisa has been awarded one of the very competitive Diabetes UK RD Lawrence fellowships which will fund her research for 5 years. During this time Elisa will work on developing her research team focussed on finding novel genes important for haman pancreatic development in order to bridge the gap between gene discovery and cell-based human therapy in type 1 diabetes.

In 2023, Elisa was one of the awardees of the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes/Novo Nordisk Future Leaders programme which will fund her research into the genes essential for beta cell survival until 2028.

Elisa is also leading scientist on the neonatal diabetes research genetic testing service (http://www.diabetesgenes.org/content/genetic-testing-neonatal-diabetes). If you would like to contact Elisa regarding genetic testing for neonatal diabetes please email her at E.De-Franco@exeter.ac.uk or elisa.defranco@nhs.net if you are sending sensitive information.

Qualifications:

• 2008: BSc (University of Turin – Italy)
• 2010: MSc (University of Turin – Italy)
• 2014: PhD (Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry - Universities of Exeter & Plymouth)