Dr. Roberta Azzarelli

Biography

Roberta Azzarelli is a Lecturer in Pharmacology at University College London's School of Pharmacy. She obtained her degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from the University of Milan in Italy and pursued her PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at University College London. During her PhD, she worked in the lab of Professor François Guillemot at the National Institute for Medical Research (now known as the Francis Crick Institute), where she studied the genetic and molecular mechanisms of brain development, particularly the role of pro-neural transcription factors in neuroblast differentiation and migration. Following her PhD, Azzarelli moved to the University of Cambridge to explore the mechanisms underpinning stem cell fate decisions in development and cancer in the laboratories of Professors Anna Philpott and Ben Simons. As a postdoctoral researcher, she was a visiting researcher at Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine under the guidance of Professor Douglas Melton. Her research identified crucial regulatory mechanisms that potentiate the activity of pro-neural factors, with important implications for cancer and regenerative medicine. Azzarelli received the Rita Levi Montalcini fellowship for 2019-2020 and worked at the University of Pisa to develop 2D and 3D models of brain development and diseases. She was appointed as a Lecturer at UCL's School of Pharmacy in 2024.

Research Interests

Experience