Fixed-term researcher

My research primarily aims at investigating the molecular basis of cognitive impairments in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, with the goal to identify druggable targets.
Since my undergraduate training, I have been working on signal transduction, with a particular interest in the pathophysiology of basal ganglia.
As a post-doctoral fellow in Prof. Brambilla’s laboratory at Cardiff University from 2013 until 2023, I tested and validated innovative pharmacological approaches based on drug repositioning and newly designed cell permeable peptides. These compounds proved to be effective in mouse models of cocaine addiction, intellectual disability/autism spectrum disorder
and neurodegenerative disorders, by modulating protein-protein interactions. As a complementary approach, I also used viral vector technologies to manipulate gene expression in vivo.
During the last years at Cardiff University, I participated in a multidisciplinary project aimed to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for 16p11.2 deletion and duplication syndromes, associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, intellectual disability and autism. To this end, I conducted a study aimed to identify peripheral blood biomarkers in human carriers. Moreover, I performed phenotypic analysis on both mouse models and human iPSC-derived neurons. Since 2024, I have been conducting this research at the Department of Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Pavia, where I contributed to establishing the Interdepartmental Facility of Neural Stem Cells.