I was born in Italy where I did most of my studies. I have always had a strong interest for life sciences and I focused my education toward this field. I earned a Bachelor in Biotechnology and a Master’s in Medical Biotechnologies, both at the University of Siena.
During my Master’s, I did an internship at the Hematology Unit of “Policlinico Le Scotte” in Siena where I performed molecular biology analyses for the differential diagnosis and follow-up of patients with hematological malignancies. After my Master’s, I did a traineeship in experimental oncology at the department of “Medical Science, Surgery and Neuroscience”, University of Siena. I looked at Wnt pathways molecules affected by drug treatment in malignant mesothelioma cell lines. These experiences contributed to strengthen my interest for research and to confirm this is what I want to do in my life.
Currently I’m one of the 15 Early Stage Researcher of the TAPAS EJD-ITN. I am based at CARIM Institute in Maastricht University (Department of Biochemistry) under the supervision of Prof. Johan Heemskerk and Dr Paola Van der Meijden. I will work there for the next two years and over the second year, I will spend four months in Dortmund, where I will complete the secondment at ISAS with the supervision of Prof. Albert Sickman. At the beginning of the last year, I will move to the University of Reading, at the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research (ICMR), where I will work with Prof. Jon Gibbins.
During my PhD, I will investigate the regulatory effects of the vascular endothelium on the receptor signaling strength and hemostasis. To this aim, I will develop a new in-vitro model, consisting of microfluidic chips grown with vascular cells, to perform whole blood perfusion studies on platelets activation. The final idea will be to exploit the new vessel-on-a-chip technology to screen the novel biologics and small molecules targeting the main platelet receptors.