Professor Elena De Falco |
Position: Associate Professor
Institution: Sapienza University, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, Department of Medical-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, C.so della Repubblica 79, 04100 Latina, Italy |
Biography
Prof. Elena De Falco obtained her degree in Biological Sciences and her doctorate in Immunology at Sapienza University of Rome. She conducted post-doctoral training in the Laboratory of Vascular Pathology under the supervision of Dr. Maurizio Capogrossi at Institute Dermopatico dell’Immacolata in Rome, Italy. Afterwards, she moved to United Kingdom as Research Associate through the British Heart Foundation at the Department of Cardiology James Black Centre in Vascular Biology Section, London under the supervision of Prof. Qingbo Xu and as Healthcare Scientist (grade 8) at Institute of Child Health-University College of London in the Gene Therapy Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Adrian Thrasher. In 2011 she moved back to Italy and she was appointed as Assistant Professor at Sapienza University, where from 2015 she is Associate Professor in the Department of Medical-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies (Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine).
Research interests
Her expertise and publications cover the stem cell area and mainly the investigation of the biological and functional properties of adipose-tissue derived human mesenchymal stem cells for cardiovascular regenerative medicine and clinically translatable protocols for cell therapy applications. She is particularly interested in the plasticity of mesenchymal stem cells to transdifferentiate towards the cardiovascular lineage and the modality by which these progenitors cross-talk with the microenvironment both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, she has explored the potential of the human platelet lysate (Mesengen®, patent Pub. No. WO/2013/042095 Sapienza University and Futura Stem cells) as cell culture supplement, vascular inducer of the epigenetic state of human mesenchymal stem cells and as biological modulator in cardiovascular repair purposes. Parallel research topics are focused on the role of oxidative stress in mediating senescence and alteration of redox states in endothelial cells and circulating endothelial progenitor cells.
Prof. Elena De Falco obtained her degree in Biological Sciences and her doctorate in Immunology at Sapienza University of Rome. She conducted post-doctoral training in the Laboratory of Vascular Pathology under the supervision of Dr. Maurizio Capogrossi at Institute Dermopatico dell’Immacolata in Rome, Italy. Afterwards, she moved to United Kingdom as Research Associate through the British Heart Foundation at the Department of Cardiology James Black Centre in Vascular Biology Section, London under the supervision of Prof. Qingbo Xu and as Healthcare Scientist (grade 8) at Institute of Child Health-University College of London in the Gene Therapy Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Adrian Thrasher. In 2011 she moved back to Italy and she was appointed as Assistant Professor at Sapienza University, where from 2015 she is Associate Professor in the Department of Medical-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies (Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine).
Research interests
Her expertise and publications cover the stem cell area and mainly the investigation of the biological and functional properties of adipose-tissue derived human mesenchymal stem cells for cardiovascular regenerative medicine and clinically translatable protocols for cell therapy applications. She is particularly interested in the plasticity of mesenchymal stem cells to transdifferentiate towards the cardiovascular lineage and the modality by which these progenitors cross-talk with the microenvironment both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, she has explored the potential of the human platelet lysate (Mesengen®, patent Pub. No. WO/2013/042095 Sapienza University and Futura Stem cells) as cell culture supplement, vascular inducer of the epigenetic state of human mesenchymal stem cells and as biological modulator in cardiovascular repair purposes. Parallel research topics are focused on the role of oxidative stress in mediating senescence and alteration of redox states in endothelial cells and circulating endothelial progenitor cells.
