CURRICULUM
Laureata in Biotecnologie Mediche e Farmaceutiche (2013) e specializzata in Biotecnologie Mediche e Medicina Molecolare (2015) presso l’Università degli Studi di Bari.
Vincitrice della Rotary Global Grant Scholarship – area di intervento prevenzione e cura delle malattie, nell’anno 2017 per il progetto “Molecular mechanisms of cerebrovascular amyloidosis in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders”.
Research Scholar presso il laboratorio della Dott.ssa Silvia Fossati – Dipartimento di Psichiatria della NYU School of Medicine (New York University, USA) nel 2017, impegnata nel progetto di ricerca “Effect of Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors Methazolamide and Acetazolamide on murine models of Alzheimer’s Disease”. La collaborazione con la Dott.ssa Fossati continua nel 2018 con il progetto “Identification of brain-derived diagnostic biomarkers for TBI and PTSD in blood and other biological fluids”, che prevede l’utilizzo della tecnologia SIMOA.
Da marzo 2018, Visiting Researcher presso il CAA and AD Translational Research and Biomarkers Lab del Dott. Fabrizio Piazza – Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca per il progetto “biomarkARIA”, e membro dell’Inflammatory Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers (iCAB) International Network.
Da Novembre 2018, Dottoranda di ricerca in Neuroscienze Sperimentali presso la Scuola di Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca sotto la supervisione del Professor Carlo Ferrarese.
Da Gennaio a Maggio 2020, Visiting PhD student presso il laboratorio della Dott.ssa Silvia Fossati – Alzheimer’s Center, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (Philadelpia, USA) – per l’utilizzo della tecnologia SIMOA a servizio del progetto “CSF and Plasma Biomarkers of ARIA in Patients With Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy-Related Inflammation”.
PROGETTO DI RICERCA
Neuroinflammation in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease: role of peripheral monocytes
- Track: Neuroscienze Sperimentali
- Tutor: Carlo Ferrarese
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration, affecting both memory and other aspects of cognitive functioning. Despite being well established that neurofibrillary tangles and β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques play a central role in the development of the disease, it is now recognized that neuroinflammation contributes to AD pathogenesis just as much as its pathological hallmarks. The peripheral immune system has long been considered completely separated from the central nervous system by means of the blood brain barrier (BBB). In AD however, because of the BBB dysfunction, blood-derived macrophages are recruited into the brain and can be found within the core of amyloid plaques; here they mature a specific immune reaction towards Aβ and develop a phagocytic phenotype.
In light of these premises, the specific aim of this PhD project is to investigate the mechanisms involved in Aβ-induced chemotaxis of peripheral monocytes in the context of AD pathology, and to elucidate their putative role in Aβ clearance and disease progression.
