Michela Matteoli received her PhD from the University of Pisa in 1989.
From 1989 to 1991 she has been a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale University School of Medicine and Visiting Scientist at the Virginia School of Medicine. In 1992 she established her laboratory at the CNR-Center of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology. In 2002 she became Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Milano.
She became a Full Professor in 2011, and since 2013 she is Head of the Neuroscience Program at Humanitas, Clinical and Research Center. M.Matteoli has been awarded with EMBO and IBRO-MacArthur fellowships. In 2013 she received the Mid-Career Nature Mentoring Award and in 2015 the Atena prize for scientific achievements. Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the Academia Europaea due to outstanding scientific achievements. She is part of the international scientific advisory boards of the Paris School of Neuroscience, the Armenise Harvard Foundation, the Center of Psychiatry and Neurosciences of INSERM and Paris-Descartes University, Fondazione Veronesi and Fondazione Volta.
She has been a coordinator or partner in several scientific networks, including NATO, HFSP and EC-FP7. Her scientific activity is also funded by Telethon, Cariplo, the Italian Ministry of Health and the Italian Ministry of Education University and Research. M. Matteoli is in the Editorial Board of many scientific journals and acts as ad hoc reviewer for several international journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, EMBO Journal, Neuron, TINS, Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Neuroscience.
Michela Matteoli has authored over 120 research papers and scientific reviews with an average Impact Factor of around 7 and several book chapters. Her H index is 50 (top Italian scientists).
Synapses are fundamental brain structures that mediate information transfer between nerve cells; they control all body functions and all aspects of cognition, including attention, perception, learning, decision making, as well as mood and affect.
Many psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders are synaptopathies, i.e. pathological conditions where the molecular and cellular pathways operating at the synapse are dysregulated. Interestingly, inflammation has long-term consequences and could speculatively modify the risk and/or severity of a variety of brain diseases.
Whether inflammation cascades impact synapse formation and function is not completely defined, although a number of molecules involved in inflammatory processes have been found to regulate specific neuronal processes.
Her lab’s activity aims at understanding the molecular mechanisms at the basis of synapse dysfunctions in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases and at defining how glia-neuron interaction and inflammation impact these processes, in order to identify new targets suitable for therapeutic intervention.
- Matteo Tamborini , Erica Locatelli, Marco Rasile , Ilaria Monaco , Simona Rodighiero , Irene Corradini , Mauro Comes Franchini , Lorena Passoni , Michela Matteoli (2016) A novel approach combining CTX-nanovectors and low dose radiation to reach infiltrating tumor niches in glioblastoma ACS nano in press (IF 12.881)
- Joshi P, Turola E, Ruiz A, Bergami A, Libera DD, Benussi L, Giussani P, Magnani G, Comi G, Legname G, Ghidoni R, Furlan R, Matteoli M*, Verderio C. (2014) Microglia convert aggregated amyloid-β into neurotoxic forms through the shedding of microvesicles. (*corresponding) Cell Death Differ. 2014 Apr;21(4):582-93. doi: 10.1038/cdd.2013.180. Epub 2013 Dec 13. (IF 8.385)
- (E Menna, S Zambetti, R Morini, Aa Donzelli, D Calvigioni, A Disanza, C, V Cappello, G Fossati, C Regondi, C Frassoni, M Francolini, M Sala, G Scita, M Fahnestock and M Matteoli (2013) Eps8 controls dendritic spine density and synaptic plasticity through its actin-capping activity.. EMBO J 12;32(12):1730-44. (IF 10.748)
- Romana Tomasoni, Daniele Repetto, Raffaella Morini, Fabrizio Gardoni, Monica Di Luca, Emilia Turco, Paola Defilippi and Michela Matteoli (2013) SNAP-25 REGULATES SPINE FORMATION THROUGH POSTSYNAPTIC BINDING TO p140Cap. Nature Comm, 19;4:2136. (IF 10.742).
- A Senatore, S Colleoni, C Verderio, E Restelli, R Morini, S B. Condliffe, IBertani, S Mantovani, M Canovi, E Micotti, G Forloni, A C. Dolphin, M Matteoli, M Gobbi, and R Chiesa (2012) Mutant Prion Protein Suppresses Glutamatergic Neurotrasmission in Cerebellar Granule Neurons by Impairing Membrane Delivery of Voltage-gated Calcium Channel 2-1 Subunit. Neuron 26;74(2):300-13. (IF 14.03)