Researchers

Dr Sara Trova was born in Aosta and she is a young neuroscientist with a background in Molecular Biology. After her three-year Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, she took a Master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology, both at the University of Turin. After graduating, her passion for the study of the Nervous System led her to begin a PhD programme at the Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi in Orbassano, which enabled her to develop both her biological/molecular and her cellular skills. During her PhD, she worked with international laboratories in France and Belgium, performing periods of research. At the Development and Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain Team in Lille, where she worked on her first post-doc, she looked at molecular biology techniques and the use of genetic approaches to explore the way in which gene mutations in the neuroendocrine system can affect the phenomenon of neural plasticity. During her second research post-doc at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan, she studied the effects of Mindfulness Meditation on the human brain using electroencephalography.

Dr Trova’s role as part of the 5000genomi@VdA project will be the management and coordination of work at the high-performance genome sequencing laboratory and the biological samples bank (biobank). In addition, she will supervise research activities regarding the identification of genomic variants implied in neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases.

Dr Fabio Landuzzi is a young researcher who was born in Bologna, the city where he began and continued his studies culminating in an MSc in Theoretical Physics. The skills that he developed during traineeships at ENEA (Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile, National Agency for new technology, energy and sustainable economic development, Rome) and at IEMN (Institut d'Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie, Institute of Electronics, Microelectronics and Nanotechnology, Lille), he worked for an important company supplying services for banking, where he further developed his computer science skills.

However, his passion for research led him to abandon the banking sector and begin a PhD at Université de Lille (Lille University) and at IEMN. Using computer simulations and experiments, he worked on the effects that ionising radiation has on DNA, in partnership with European research centres such as the “Small BioSystem Lab" (Barcelona). After his PhD, he continued his career with a Post-Doc fellowship at the Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, where he remained until he arrived in the Aosta Valley.

Within the 5000genomi@VdA project, Dr Landuzzi will be implementing the bioinformatics analysis of genome sequencing data. He considers this research project as particularly interesting because it will make it possible to use the latest scientific developments and the most advanced technology to develop a public healthcare concept based on a predictive model in the outlook of replacing urgent treatment with preventive medicine. This will be a benefit not just for patients, as it will also make it possible to reduce costs, introducing a more modern clinical care system that can represent a point of excellence in the Aosta Valley and a positive example for other countries.