Our team
Want to collaborate/work with us? Write to cfalcone@sissa.it
Carmen Falcone, PhD
Principal Investigator
Carmen received her PhD in Functional and Structural Genomics from SISSA in 2017, studying the mechanisms regulating astrocyte development in mouse. Then, she moved to University of California – Davis for her postdoc, where she investigated astrocyte evolution and development across mammals, and started her focus on the interlaminar astrocytes, a special type of cortical astrocytes (ILAs), with the cell body in layer I and long, branched processes crossing several cortical layers. In 2022, she became Group Leader at SISSA. Her lab currently focuses on the study of ILA roles in the primate brain, and on the understanding of cortical astrocytes roles in the evolution and development of the mammalian brain.
Marika Mearelli
Lab Manager
Marika received her master degree in Neuroscience from University of Trieste in 2020. During her internship at SISSA she studied the expression of Serpins family member in prion and alzheimer’ diseases. Then she moved to DZNE, Tübingen to work as a research assistant focusing on inflammatory and metabolic mechanisms in Parkinson and ALS. Now, she is working at SISSA as a lab manager to study cortical astrocyte roles in evolution and development of the mammalian brain. She had experience in iPSCs culture and differentiation.
Caterina Ciani, PhD
Postdoc
Caterina is passionate about cellular mechanisms all across evolution. In fact, she graduated in Neuroscience in 2017 from the University of Trieste, studying the activity of Protocadherins in the embryonic development of the cerebral cortex in mice, and then she defended her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2022 from CIBIO (Trento), where she characterized an RNA binding protein from Acinetobacter baumannii. Recently, she joined the lab of Carmen Falcone, for better characterizing the role of Interlaminar astrocytes, putting together all the skills she learned during her education. Outside the lab, she continues to follow her curiosity in nature: she loves tracking, climbing, and dancing!
Giulio Pistorio
Master student
iulio received his Bachelor degree in Catania at the University of Catania in 2021, while living the life of Scuola Superiore di Catania. He then moved to Trieste to pursue his master degree in Neuroscience. He is currently interested in the study of brain evolution and how brain has reached its complexity in primates. Therefore, he has joined the Falcone Lab, studying better the other side of the moon of the brain`s cells. Outside the lab, he likes to spend time diving as much as possible in fantasy worlds or, when feasible, in swimming pool or sea.
Luca Mio
Undergraduate student
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Collaborators
We are lucky to collaborate to brilliant and fun researchers across the world.
Bruno Mota, PhD
Professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)
Chiara Magliaro, PhD
Assistant professor at Centro E. Piaggio, University of Pisa (Pisa, Italy)
Jean-marie Graïc, PhD
Assistant professor at University of Padua (Padua, Italy)
Nina Patzke, PhD
Professor at Health and Medical University, Potsdam (Potsdam, Germany)
Nunzio Iraci, PhD
Associate professor at University of Catania (Catania, Italy)
Laura Civiero, PhD
Associate professor at University of Padua (Padua, Italy)
Laura Pinfildi
Study coordinator at University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli (Naples, Italy)
Giuliano Taccola, PhD
Associate professor at SISSA (Trieste, Italy)
Francesco Petrelli, PhD
Research associate at University of Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Shahriar SheikBahaei
Chief, Neuron-Glia Signaling and Circuits Unit at NINDS, NIH (USA)