About me
Researcher in the Biochemistry Elias Arner's group
Postdoc appointments 2012- 2018 Postdoctoral fellow at the Biochemistry division Arne Holmgren's group.
April 2013-July 2013 King’s College of London, Fellowship by CTI-Science biotech Company to test the antioxidant and metal chelator properties of a new compound.
PhD in Molecular Medicine 2008-2012 Department of Neuroscience, Pharmacology Unit, University of Siena, Italy.
With the addition of the European label “Doctor Europaeus” in compliance with the requirements of the European University Association.
Exchange PhD program: visiting student in Brighton and Sussex Medical School Falmer, Brighton
Research description
During my PhD, I investigated how redox signaling and regulation, control platelet aggregation and how redox modifications as glutathionylation lead to not conventional protein secretion. Moreover, I was also interested in how glutathionylation can modulate protein function and the connection between redox biology and immunity.
Following my interest on redox regulation and signaling I applied for a postdoctoral position in the group of Prof. Arne Holmgren, redox pioneer, widely known for the in-depth studies of Thioredoxins, Thioredoxin Reductases and for the discovery and characterization of Glutaredoxins (Grxs).
I particularly worked in developing highly sensitive assays that allow to detected Grx at picomolar levels and glutathione in human plasma. Overall, these methods have simplicity and rapidity combined with high sensitivity as main advantages; therefore, they may be particularly suitable for large-scale clinical studies.
I started to work with transgenic mouse models to study the crosstalk of Trx and Grx pathways in Trx, Trx reductase and/or Glutathione Reductase null-mice in the hepatocytes.
Another main focus of my research is to characterize the role of Grx2 using a mouse model with Grx2 depletion in mitochondria. The transgenic mice developed an unexpected phenotype consisting in increase body weight already at early stage of life that suggest an key role of Grx2 in metabolism.
Teaching portfolio
May 2019: Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
Involved in Biomedicine Program: Introduction to Biomedicine and Den Friska Människan 1
Academic honours, awards and prizes
2021-Awarded of EMBO short-term fellowship in the Ivan Gout’s Lab UCL, London, UK.
2020-2021 Awarded of Fulbright scholarship in Ed Schmidt’s lab, Montana State University, US.
Serving as a member of a thesis examination committee
2020 October 27th Member of the Doctoral Thesis panel. Candidate: Pablo Marti Andres, Department of Physiology Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitat de València Spain.
2020 June 12th Member of half-time control committee for the PhD student Mattia Russel Pantalone, Söderberg-Naucler’s lab, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute.
2019-October 11th Member of half-time control committee for the PhD student Pierre Sabatier, Zubarev ‘s lab, MBB Department.
2017 March 24th. Member of the Doctoral Thesis panel. Candidate: Cristina Álvarez Zaldiernas. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, Spain.