AB is Associate Professor of Physiology at the University of Turin since 2017 and eligible for full professorship since 2019. AB currently serves as the Scientific Deputy Director of the Cavalieri Ottolenghi Foundation. She is also the CEO and founder of the spinoff S&P Brain (www.spbrain.com). At the University of Turin, AB has held several key roles, including Deputy Director for the Third Mission at the Dept. of Neuroscience and Deputy Coordinator of the PhD Program in Neuroscience.
She completed her PhD in Neuroscience in 1998 under the mentorship of P. Strata. During her PhD, she also conducted research at the University of Utrecht and Institute for Brain Research in Amsterdam, under the guidance of W.H. Gispen and J. Verhaagen.
Following her PhD, AB continued as a postdoc at the University of Turin with F. Rossi and P. Strata. She later spent two years (2004-2005) at the Helmholtz Zentrum and LMU in Munich, collaborating with M. Goetz. Since 2006, AB has been leading her research group and participating in numerous European and national funded projects.
Research focus
AB’s research focuses on neural plasticity mechanisms supporting brain development and repair. Key areas include: (i) mechanisms of circuit formation and rewiring; current focus is on circuit reconstruction in human stem cell-derived striatal grafts in rodent models of Huntington’s disease; (ii) astrocyte plasticity, exploring how astrocyte diversify, respond to damage, and contribute to pathology; (iii) oligodendrocyte physiology, investigating their heterogeneity, therapeutic potential, and role in brain functions.
AB’s group uses state of the art technologies and advanced in vivo and in vitro approaches including 2D/3D human pluripotent stem cells-derived models.
Key achievements: (a) Integration of hESC-derived striatal neurons in Huntington’s disease model; (b) Heterogeneous OPC response to damage based on developmental origin; (c) Identification of astrocyte lineages in cerebellum; (d) Astrocytes’ stem cell potential post-injury; (e) Myelin protein-mediated inhibition of intact CNS axon sprouting.
