Growing up in Verona, Italy, my parents fostered in me a love of learning. I have always been very inquisitive, with a great interest in travel, languages and cultures. The last year of my master’s degree, I joined a study abroad program that took me to the University of Stockholm, Sweden where I undertook a project studying familial amyloid polyneuropathy, a life-threatening disorder most commonly due to a mutated protein called transthyretin. During this time, my passion for discovery became well-defined and I knew right away that I wanted to become a scientist.
After graduating with my master’s degree, I decided to stay in Stockholm and joined the laboratory of Dr. Larsson at the Karolinska Institute. I received my Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2006. For my dissertation, I reconstituted mammalian mitochondrial transcription in vitro by using only pure recombinant proteins.
After earning my Ph.D., I moved to the United States where I continued my scientific training. I took a postdoctoral position at the University of Rochester, NY where I worked in Dr. Maquat’s laboratory on nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), a type of mRNA quality control. Next, I moved to Kansas City, MO where I continued to pursue research in the RNA field in the laboratory of Dr. Baumann at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. In Dr. Baumann’s lab, I studied the biogenesis of human telomerase RNA.
I joined Utah Tech University as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2014. My research focuses on studying the physical and functional interaction between two human non-coding RNAs: human telomerase RNA (hTR) and the RNA component of the mitochondrial RNA-processing ribonuclease (hMRP), mutations of which cause dyskeratosis congenita (DKC) and cartilage hair hypoplasia (CHH) in humans. I appreciate seeing my students’ love for science and research grow, and I am especially excited when I see female students pursuing ambitious goals in science and medicine. I am a strong advocate for women in science.
In my free time, I enjoy running, cooking, and spending time with my family. I also love anything Italian!