Professor Dr. Manuela Zaccolo

Biography

Manuela Zaccolo graduated in Medicine from the University of Torino, Italy, and subsequently pursued a career in science. She spent four years as a post-doctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, MRC, in Cambridge, UK, working on protein engineering and in vitro molecular evolution. She then moved back to Italy, taking a position at the University of Padova, where she focused on generating fluorescent sensors for real-time imaging of intracellular messengers in living cells. In 2001, she established an independent research group at the Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, concentrating on intracellular signaling. In 2007, she moved to the University of Glasgow, where she initially held the position of Reader before becoming a Professor of Cell Biology. In 2012, she joined the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford. Zaccolo's research focuses on how cells sense external stimuli and process these signals to produce functional outcomes. She is particularly interested in the architectural and regulatory principles of intracellular signaling networks that achieve the necessary plasticity and context-sensitivity for proper cell function, with a specific focus on cyclic nucleotide signaling in cardiac cell systems and the role of local regulation and compartmentalization of signal transduction in determining the specificity of cellular responses. Her ultimate goal is to understand how alterations in signaling networks lead to human disease and to apply this knowledge towards the development of novel therapeutic strategies.

Research Interests

Experience