I am a MRC CDA Research Fellow at the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Manchester.

During my doctoral studies, my main research interests have focused on maternal vascular signalling throughout gestation and on the role of materno-placental interactions in determining fetal outcomes, in both human and animal models. During my post-doc, I studied the effects of maternal dietary nitrate and polyphenols, and of antihypertensive therapies in high-risk pregnancies on fetal growth. More recently, I have expanded my interests in the development of novel on-Chip technologies for toxicology testing in pregnancy.

My current research goal is to contribute to improve maternal and fetal wellbeing, with significant translational impact on clinical prospective practice in pregnancies complicated by maternal cardiac dysfunction. An integative approach is essential to provide pharmacological evidence to underpin the use of cardioprotective medications in clinical practice. For this reason, I combine the use of human tissue samples and cell co-cultures, focusing particularly on vascular aspects of the human placenta; and in vivo experiments in a pregnant mouse model, with a major focus on fetal physiology. 

Pressure and wire myography

Ex vivo dual perfusion of the human placenta

Placental endothelial and smooth muscle cell co-culture

Doppler ultrasound in pregnant mouse

BSc (cum laude) Biological Sciences, University of Calabria (Italy), 2007-2010

MSc (cum laude) Biology, University of Calabria (Italy), 2010-2012

PhD, Life Sciences, University of Calabria (Italy), 2012-2015

The Physiological Society 

European Placenta Group

Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network