Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Valentina Alda Carozzi was born in Gallarate (Varese) in 1981. In 2005 she graduated in Medical Biotechnology (110/110 cum laude) and in 2008 she took her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Milan Bicocca with a project focused on the role of glutamate in the pathology of the peripheral nervous system. 

From 2008 to 2017 Dr. Carozzi worked as a post-doc on in vivo research in the field of peripheral neuropathies. From 2017 she worked as Assistant Professor of Histology (BIO17) at School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Milan Bicocca and as a member of the Board for the PhD program in Neuroscience.

Research interests

Dr. Carozzi has a huge experience in animal studies of peripheral neuropathies and neuropathic pain. She has matured a role in the coordination, designing and conduction of in vivo experimental protocols as well as in the scientific reporting of the studies performed at Experimental Neurology Unit of the School of Medicine and Surgery. 

Dr. Carozzi personally performs neurophysiological, neuropathological, behavioral and molecular analysis to study the features and molecular pathways involved in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity. She developed xenograft models of human cancer in which the study of the antineoplastic and neurotoxic effects of chemotherapy can be simultaneous. She collaborates in the development of new neuroprotective as well as analgesic strategies for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathies and pain relief.

In the years 2009-2014 she increased her expertise by joining National and International research groups to acquire skills to study the electrophysiology of neuropathic pain and to establish enduring scientific collaborations.

In 2015 Dr. Carozzi won the Trideo award funded by AIRC and Fondazione Cariplo gaining a partial independence in carrying out her research. 

Active research collaborations

• Center for Life Nano Science, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Università Roma La Sapienza, Roma (Prof. Silvia Diangelantonio)
• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA; (Dr. Barbara Slusher).
• Centre on Pain Study, School of Nursing, University of Maryland, Baltimore (MD), USA; (Dr. Susan Dorsey).
• Cytomorphology laboratory, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, (Dr. Marina Quartu).
• Pain Neurophysiology Centre, CNR Laboratories, Palazzo Lita, Segrate, Milan, (Dr. Antonio Zippo).
• Dipartimento di Endocrinologia, University of Milan, Milan, (Dr. Roberto Melcangi). 

Selected publication (H index, source Scopus) = 22

• Meregalli, C., Bonomo, R., Cavaletti, G., Carozzi, V.A. Blood molecular biomarkers for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: From preclinical models to clinical practice. Neuroscience Letters, 2021, 749, 135739
• Pozzi, E., Fumagalli, G., Chiorazzi, A., Carozzi V…., Cavaletti, G., Marmiroli, P. The relevance of multimodal assessment in experimental oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neurotoxicity. Experimental Neurology, 2020, 334, 113458
• Canta, A., Chiorazzi, A., Pozzi, E., CArozzi V…., Marmiroli, P., Cavaletti, G. Calmangafodipir reduces sensory alterations and prevents intraepidermal nerve fibers loss in a mouse model of oxaliplatin induced peripheral neurotoxicity. Antioxidants, 2020, 9(7), pp. 1–11, 594
• Meregalli, C., Fumagalli, G., Alberti, P., Carozzi V…., Cavaletti, G., Marmiroli, P. Neurofilament light chain: a specific serum biomarker of axonal damage severity in rat models of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity. Archives of Toxicology, 2020, 94(7), pp. 2517–2522
• Calls A*, Carozzi V*, Navarro X, Monza L, Bruna J. Pathogenesis of platinum-induced peripheral neurotoxicity: Insights from preclinical studies. Exp Neurol. 2019 Dec 19;325:113141. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2019.113141. *Equally contributed.
• Lessans S, Lassiter CB, Carozzi V, Heindel P, Semperboni S, Oggioni N, Chiorazzi A, Thompson C, Wagner M, Holden J, Rahn E, Sweatt JD, Cavaletti G, Renn CL, Dorsey SG. Global Transcriptomic Profile of Dorsal Root Ganglion and Physiological Correlates of Cisplatin-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy. Nurs Res. 2019 Mar/Apr;68(2):145-155.
• Riva B, Dionisi M, Potenzieri A, Chiorazzi A, Cordero-Sanchez C, Rigolio R, Carozzi VA, Lim D, Cavaletti G, Marmiroli P, Distasi C, Genazzani AA. Oxaliplatin induces pH acidification in dorsal root ganglia neurons. Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 10;8(1):15084
• Wozniak KM, Vornov JJ, Wu Y, Liu Y, Carozzi VA, Rodriquez-Menendez V, Ballarini E, Alberti P, Pozzi E, Semperboni S, Cook BM, Littlefield BA, Nomoto K, Condon K, Eckley S, DesJardins C, Wilson L, Jordan MA, Feinstein SC, Cavaletti G, Polydefkis M, Slusher BS. Peripheral neuropathy induced by microtubule-targeted chemotherapies: insights into acute injury and long-term recovery. Cancer Res. 2017 Nov 30. pii: canres.1467.2017. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-1467.
• Marmiroli P, Riva B, Pozzi E, Ballarini E, Lim D, Chiorazzi A, Meregalli C, Distasi C, Renn CL, Semperboni S, Morosi L, Ruffinatti FA, Zucchetti M, Dorsey SG, Cavaletti G, Genazzani A, Carozzi VA. Susceptibility of different mouse strains to oxaliplatin peripheral neurotoxicity: Phenotypic and genotypic insights. PLoS One. 2017 Oct 11;12(10):e0186250.
• Carozzi VA, Chiorazzi A, Canta A, Meregalli C, Oggioni N, Cavaletti G, Marmiroli P. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity in immune-deficient mice: New useful ready-to-use animal models. Exp Neurol. 2014 Nov 18;264C:92-102.
• Carozzi V*, Renn C*, Bardini M, Fazio G, Chiorazzi A, Meregalli C, Oggioni N, Shanks K, Quartu M, Serra MP, Sala B, Cavaletti G, Dorsey S. * equally contributed to the manuscript. Bortezomib-induced painful peripheral neuropathy: an electrophysiological, behavioral, morphological and mechanistic study in the mouse. Plos-one 2013;9:e72995.
• Carozzi V, Canta A, Oggioni N, Ceresa C, Marmiroli P, Konvalinka J, Zoia C, Bossi M, Ferrarese C, Tredici G, Cavaletti G. Expression and distribution of ‘high affinity’ glutamate transporters GLT1, GLAST, EAAC1 and of GCPII in the rat peripheral nervous system.  J Anat. 2008 Nov;213(5):539-46.