Institute: University of Oxford
Biography
I graduated in Biology at the University of Padua (Italy) in 1998 with a Diploma Thesis on the molecular mechanisms of action of Helicobacter pylori VacA and Bacillus anthracis LF toxins. After a PhD at the University of Siena/Novartis Vaccines (Italy) on the molecular pathways controlling innate immune responses of human Dendritic Cells to Lipopolysaccharide, I joined Professor Lanzavecchia Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona (Switzerland), where I focused on how distinct immune sensor for microbial invasion can synergy to elicit potent Th1 immune responses, and and on the characterization of the phenotype and specificity of human Il-17 producing CD4 T cells. As a Senior Post Doctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Professor Cerundolo, I worked in close collaboration with Professor Andy Pollard team on the characterizing the immune response in volunteers challenged with Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi A. and I have developed a methodological approach which combines the use of Mass Cytometry to identify T cell activated in response to challenge, with single cell cloning of activated T cells to dissect the serovar specific and cross-reactive repertoire of Salmonella specific T cells differentiating in challenged volunteers. Within the HIC-VAC consortium, I plan to apply this approach to the analysis of T cell responses in other human challenge models.
Key Publications
A list of recent publications can be found here.
Web Links of Interest