ESR9: Federica Marelli

Development of Human Cell-Based Models for study of Blood Brain Barrier Molecular Permeability

EuroNeurotrophin Research
Federica will work on a project aimed at building a cell model of the human blood brain barrier (BBB) by using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). She will apply protocols for hiPSC differentiation into microvascular cells and assess the beneficial effect of hiPSC-derived microvascular cell co-culture with primary astrocytes on BBB integrity and filtration performance. The model shall then be used to evaluate the permeability properties of neurotrophic agonists and antagonists.


Host
B7: AvantiCell Science Ltd., United Kingdom

Supervisor
Dr. Marie-Ann Ewart, AvantiCell Science Ltd.

Scientific Background
Federica holds a BSc in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and a MSc in Molecular and Cellular Medical Biotechnology from the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan, Italy. She has a neuroscience scientific background and she is interested in translational biomedical research. She worked as a research fellow in Dr Angela Gritti’s lab at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, where she was involved in projects aimed at the development of innovative therapeutic strategies for globoid cell leukodystrophy, a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease. In September 2018 Federica joined the EuroNeurotrophin European Training Network as a PhD student working at the AvantiCell Science Ltd company, Ayr, Scotland.