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Profile – Dr Claudia Manzoni

Name:

Dr Claudia Manzoni

Job Title:

Associate Research Fellow

Place of work / study:

University of Reading, School of Pharmacy        

Area of research:

Bioinformatics and Systems Biology

How is your work funded?

I am employed on an MRC programme grant to John Hardy, Patrick Lewis, Helene Plun-Favreau and Alex Whitworth.

Tell us a little about yourself:            

I am Italian and lived and studied in Italy, Milan. After completing my BSc in Biotechnology at the University of Milan and my PhD with the Open University, I came to the UK and I started working at UCL Institute of Neurology with Patrick Lewis and John Hardy before moving to the University of Reading. I started my career as biochemist and I studied the involvement of Mendelian Parkinson’s genes in the process of autophagy. Few years ago, I moved to more bioinformatics and systems-biology oriented projects. In particular, I am interested in the analyse large scale genetic and proteomic data with the final aim of identify molecular pathways whose alteration confer an increase risk for developing Frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Read more about my research in my recently launched website: https://genestuffweb.wordpress.com [1].

Tell us a fun fact about yourself:           

I will tell you 2 short fun facts: 1. I adore Jack Russel terriers 2. I have an insane passion for make-up and I can talk about make-up technics & trends for hours… I was so proud when my sister “hired” me as make-up artist for her wedding.

Why did you choose to work in dementia?

We know so little about the brain, about how it functions in health and disease. This is still an incredible mysterious organ. Diseases of the brain, such as dementia, are devastating. I don’t have words to describe the ice-cold feeling of being left with no power to intervene, with nothing to do in front of dementia. I strongly believe that the more we understand the brain the more we increase our chances to find a way to fight back against these irreversable conditions. I have always felt I am here to give my contribution.

Follow @GeneStuff [2]