Our Team
Maria Beatriz Herrera Sanchez PhD
Maria recieved a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Havana, Cuba. In 2003, she began her PhD at the University of Turin, where she focused on stem cells and their extracellular vesicles (EVs) in acute renal failure therapy, leading to the discovery of Human Liver-Derived Stem Cells (HLSCs). She continued her postdoc with Prof. Camussi at the University of Turin in collaboration with Fresenius Medical Care, investigating the biology and function of HLSCs and their EVs in renal and liver diseases, securing multiple patents. In addition, she worked as a consultant for Unicyte, overseeing projects aimed at developing HLSCs and HLSC-EVs as therapeutics for various diseases in clinical settings.
Currently, she leads her own research group, focusing on the development of engineered EVs for the treatment of liver genetic disorders.
Stefania Bruno PhD
Stefania Bruno is an Associate Professor of Biotechnology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Turin, Italy. Her research focuses on regenerative medicine, particularly the use of stem cells and extracellular vesicles (EVs) in models of acute and chronic injury. In recent years, she has specialized in investigating the anti-fibrotic effects of EVs from various sources in both in vitro and in vivo models. She is currently involved in multiple projects exploring the potential of circulating EVs as biomarkers for human diseases, including cardiovascular conditions, systemic sclerosis, and hematopoietic malignancies.
Sharad Kholia PhD
Sharad Kholia is a Senior Researcher at the University of Turin and an Honorary Research Associate at Imperial College London.
Sharad earned his BSc from King’s College London, an MSc from London Metropolitan University, and a PhD in Medical Pathophysiology from the University of Turin. Following a Marie Curie Fellowship in Prof. Camussi’s lab, he pursued postdoctoral research on stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles in kidney fibrosis. He later joined Imperial College London’s National Heart and Lung Institute, investigating microRNA biomarkers for acute kidney injury in cardiac patients. Currently, he leads high-impact projects on EVs as biomarkers in cardiovascular diseases and cancer biology while mentoring early-career researchers.
Elena Ceccotti PhD
Elena Ceccotti is a PNRR-funded Postdoc in the laboratory.
She received her undergraduate degree in Biotechnology and masters degree in Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Torino. She completed her PhD in medical physiopathology under the supervision of Professor Stefania Bruno at the University of Torino.
Her doctoral research was focused on the study of the anti-fibrotic effect of stem cell derived extracellular vesicles in cellular and animal models of renal and liver fibrosis.
Current research activity concentrates on the loading of red blood cell-derived extracellular vesicles with anti-fibrotic miRNA mimics to counteract the progression of liver fibrosis in a bi-dimensional and three-dimensional models of liver fibrosis.
Armina Semnani
Armina Semnani is a PhD student in Medical Physiopathology at the University of Turin, where she investigates the molecular content of extracellular vesicles and their role in fibrosis (Mainly Liver). She holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Biochemistry from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, where she studied genetic variants related to type 2 diabetes mellitus. With expertise in molecular biology techniques, bioinformatics, and cell culture models, her research focuses on extracellular vesicle-based therapies and disease modeling.
Alessia Rita Canestrale MSc
Alessia is a Research fellow in the lab.
Her background includes an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Foggia, and a Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology at the University of Turin. The focus of her current work is engineering stem cells and their derived extracellular vesicles for the treatment of Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency.