PhD in CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

email: nadia.dambrosi@uniroma2.it
phone: 0672594244
building: SOGENE
room: 007

Education and training

-2003-2007: Post-doc fellow at Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy

-2003: Ph. D. in Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome Tor Vergata

-1998: Junior fellow at Royal Free Hospital, Autonomic Neuroscience Institute, London, UK

-1998: Master’s Degree in Biological Sciences, University of Rome “La Sapienza”

Employment

-2019-present: Associate Professor in Biochemistry (BIO/10), Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata

-2016-2019: Assistant Professor (RTDB) in Biochemistry (BIO/10), Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata

-2013-2016: Assistant Professor (RTDA) in Applied Biology (BIO/13) at Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

-2008-2013: Senior Researcher at Santa Lucia Foundation/Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology CNR, Rome, Italy

Teaching

-2019-present: member of the PhD school in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy; Coordinator of the III year course “Career Resources for PhD Students”

- 2016-present: Lecturer in Biochemistry, Biochemical Methodologies and Brain Metabolism in the LT Biotechnology and the LM Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biomedical Sciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy

- 2016-2019 Lecturer in Biology and Cellular Biology in the Medicine and Surgery course (English taught), Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Honours

-2020-present: member of the Editorial Board of NeuroSci (MDPI), Cells (MDPI), Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

-2018-present: Reviewer for the following funding agencies: Thierry Latran Foundation (France), MRC (Cambrigde, UK), AFM-Telethon, Fondation Maladies Rares, FWO-Research Foundation Flanders

Ongoing grants:

- 2024-2026 PI: FARA “Investigating microglial phenotypes and functions in the pathogenesis of Friedreich’s Ataxia “

- 2023-2025 Partner: NEXTGENERATIONEU (NGEU) and founded by Ministry of University and Research (MUR), National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) PRIN-PNRR 2022 P2022JKTWH

- 2022-2025 Partner: NEXTGENERATIONEU (NGEU) and founded by Ministry of University and Research (MUR), National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), project MNESYS (PE0000006) – A Multiscale Integrated Approach to the Study of the Nervous System in Health and Disease

- 2022-2024 PI: AFM-Telethon “TargetS-Targeting S100A4 to improve inflammation and fibrosis in Duchenne Musclular Dystrophy”

- 2022-2024 Partner: AriSLA “SwitchALS- Therapeutic correction of alternative splicing defects in hnRNP A2/B1 as a way to counteract Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis associated to FUS”

Research interests

My research interests have always been focused on molecular pathogenic mechanisms underlying neuromuscular diseases.  My ongoing projects are:

- investigating how chronic inflammation and fibrosis contribute to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathology and exploring the potential of anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic drugs as strategies to halt the disease progression;

- studying RNA dysmetabolism and alternative splicing deregulation in the pathogenesis of ALS;

- investigating the microglial contribution to Friedreich’s Ataxia pathology

- exploring the involvement of the pro-inflammatory protein S100A4 in the crosstalk between macrophages and muscle cells in the pathogenesis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The projects are conducted by integrating biochemistry with cellular and animal models of the diseases.