The lower intestine is densely populated by a community of commensal bacteria that, under healthy conditions, are essential and beneficial to our health. However, during chronic inflammatory bowel diseases the homeostatic relationship with our gut microbiota is disrupted and these bacteria become key drivers of inflammation. One of the inflammatory pathways that can be activated in intestinal inflammation is the inflammasome, a complex of proteins that controls the activity of caspase-1, pro-IL-1eta and pro-IL-18, and pyropoptosis. Some evidence suggests that the gut microbiota influences regulation of the inflammasome. Components of inflammasomes have been shown to have a protective function against development of experimental colitis. However the precise mechanisms and the role of the inflammasome in maintaining a healthy host-microbial mutualism in the absence of pathogens remains unknown. My current research interests are focused on the role of commensal microbiota in shaping and regulating the expression and activation of inflammasome at the level of intestinal epithelial cells, under different hygiene conditions.
February 2013-…: Postdoc fellow
Mucosal Immunology lab directed by Prof. Kathy McCoy and Prof. Andrew Macpherson
University of Bern – Bern, Switzerland
My project is aimed to understand how microbiota-mediated fine-tuning of the threshold of intestinal inflammasome activation happens in host-microbial mutualism.
January 2008-April 2012: PhD Graduate Student
Cellular Immunology lab directed by Federica Sallusto
Institute for Research in Biomedicine - Bellinzona, Switzerland
The project was focused on the role of IL-1β and of usage of pertussis toxin in the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
October 2007-December 2007: Full-time pre-doctoral Research Fellow
Experimental Diabetes Unit directed by Dr. Marika Falcone, MD
San Raffaele Scientific Institute - Milan, Italy
My main project was aimed to identify the differentially expressed genes in tolerogenic murine dendritic cells (DCs) using the microarray technique, as follow up of my master thesis project.
August 2007-September 2007: Visiting Graduate Student
Laboratory at Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases directed by Prof. Igor Kramnik, MD, PhD
Harvard School of Public Health - Boston, MA, USA
I followed different research projects aimed to characterize molecular mechanisms involved in the interaction between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the innate immune cells.
October 2006- July 2007: Undergraduate Student
Experimental Diabetes Unit directed by Dr. Marika Falcone, MD
San Raffaele Scientific Institute - Milan, Italy
My experimental thesis project was aimed to understand how a particular set of T cells, the Natural Killer T (NKT) cells, can interact with DCs inducing a tolerogenic phenotype to counter-regulate autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes (T1D), in mouse model.
February 2004- December 2004: Undergraduate Student
Laboratory of Department of Surgical Sciences directed by Prof. Marialuisa Lavitrano, PhD
School of Medicine, University of Milan-Bicocca – Milan-Monza, Italy
My work focused on the characterization of a conditional transgenic mouse model to study pathogenesis of a neurological disorder similar to Huntington’s disease, called Type 1 Spinocerebellar Ataxia.
2013-2015 SNSF- Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) Postdoctoral fellowship
2015: ECCO (European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation) Grant