Role
Full Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Cagliari
Bio
After graduating in Pharmacy from the University of Palermo in 1993, she moved to Cagliari to further her studies in neurophysiology and in vivo electrophysiology. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience in 2011 and conducted research in the United States at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and in Sweden at Lund University. Since 2023, she has been a full professor of Pharmacology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Cagliari, where she directs the preclinical neuropsychopharmacology laboratory.
Her research in preclinical neuroscience analyzes vulnerability to mental disorders and alterations in the dopaminergic and endocannabinoidergic systems, with a particular focus on critical stages of neurodevelopment such as childhood and preadolescence. Using a multiscale approach (optogenetics, transcriptomics, and behavioral analysis), she studies the impact of adverse early experiences, including the active ingredients of cannabis and cannabinoids, on brain circuitry.
Winner of an ERC Consolidator Grant with the REDIRECT project , she coordinated the Gordon Research Conference for Cannabinoid Functions in the CNS. Author of over 100 publications and editor of two scientific volumes for Elsevier and SpringerLink, she has received prestigious awards including the Gill Award for Transformative Research in Neuroscience (2022) and the 'Donna di Scienza' Award (2024).