Bruna Marini PhD

Meet ICGEB alumna Bruna Marini, Ulisse Biomed Cofounder & Scientific+Quality Manager

Bruna Marini, PhD is an entrepreneur and molecular biologist.  She received her PhD in Molecular Biology from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa; her research activities were performed at the Laboratory of Molecular Medicine at the ICGEB in Trieste.

Bruna’s doctoral thesis focused on the influence and role of nucleic architecture on the integration of HIV. The study was published in the journal Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals. She has published several papers and has co-authored several patents-pending in the field of molecular and immunoassay diagnostics.

She obtained her degree in Functional Genomics at the University of Trieste and her Masters in Genomics at the Université Paris Diderot. She was also a force while undertaking her PhD studies at the ICGEB in Trieste: completing a Masters in Complex Actions at the SISSA, and leading an all-scientists band, “The Jackets”.

With a humanitarian drive to apply scientific discoveries to improving people’s lives, health, and well-being, and stemming from the desire to translate her career in applied research to commercial needs, at the age of 30, she cofounded Ulisse Biomed: a company whose initial focus has been Women’s health and new diagnostic modalities.

The company’s introductory product, the LadyMed HPV test,  is an innovative diagnostic test for the detection of the human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary virus responsible for the development of cervical cancer.

Based on an innovative technology and consumer model with a digital platform,” Bruna explains, “this product is a simple and painless self-sampling kit that is registered digitally from home. Once the sampling is complete, the kit is sent to a Ulisse Biomed healthcare partner for analysis.

Marini and co-founder Rudy Ippodrino, PhD along with financial sponsor Copernico Sim started Ulisse Biomed in 2015. The team grew quickly to twelve, to include creative scientists, administrative staff, operations, and a prestigious Scientific Advisory Board including Lawrence Banks, Davide Zella, Joe Kates, and Robert Gallo.

Mother of two, Bruna Marini is on her way to new challenges that lie ahead. We shall be watching, in the certainty that she will continue to shine!


Rudy Bruna Ulisse Biomed
Bruna Marini (left) with Ulisse Biomed co-founder, Rudy Ippodrino – both ICGEB alumni