Stefania Giussani

I studied Molecular Biology and Genetics in the University of Pavia and obtained my Master’s degree in 2015, after a two-year period of experimental thesis in the Department of Molecular Medicine. I then started a PhD in Biomedical Sciences, during which I have been working in GSK Vaccines, in Siena. For my project I studied and characterized a small protein from Group B Streptococcus that has the ability to bind the C3 Complement component, along with its activation and degradation fragments. In particular, I investigated its capacity to bind C3d and interfere with the host adaptive immune response by using B cell assays.

I joined the Wade-Martins’ group in the very beginning of 2019. My research project is funded by Celgene and focuses on the study of neuro-inflammation in Parkinson’s disease. In particular, I will investigate the immunoreactivity of alpha-synuclein using patient-derived immune cells and tissues.