Education / qualifications

-March 2007: PhD in "Molecular and cellular pharmacology", under the supervision of Prof. Rosario Rizzuto (Dept. of Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, University of Ferrara). Title of my thesis: “Mitochondrial calcium homeostasis modulation by physiological and pharmacological regulators”.
-March 2003: medical chemistry (CTF) five years degree (summa cum laude), University of Ferrara. Title of my thesis: “Effects of different PKC isoforms overexpression, on intracellular calcium homeostasis” under the supervision of Prof. Rosario Rizzuto (Dept. of Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, Section of General Pathology).

Work experience

-From April 2009: Centre of Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento via delle Regole 101 38123 Mattarello (Trento).
-November 2008 - January 2009: Division of Medicine. Sir Alexander Fleming Building Imperial College London. Exhibition Road London SW7 2AZ,UK.
-March 2003 - November 2008: Dept. of Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, Section of General Pathology and Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Inflammation (ICSI), Emilia Romagna Laboratory for Genomics and Biotechnology (ER-Gentech) and Telethon Center for Cell Imaging, University of Ferrara, Via Borsari 46, 44100 Ferrara, Italy.

Honours, awards, fellowships

- May 2009-May 2011: post Doc Fellowship (Assegno di Ricerca)
- February- March 2009: “Aequotech” Fellowship (contratto di prestazione occasionale)
- November 2008– January 2009: “EMBO” short term fellowship
- May – October 2008: “Aequotech” Fellowship
- 2007- May 2008: “ASI” Fellowship
- 2006-2007: “GenTech fellowship Progetto Obiettivo 2”
- 2004-2006: PhD fellowship
- 2003-2004: “Telethon” fellowship


Teaching activities
-A.A 2007-2008 ‘General Pathology’ class at Pharmacy (STP, Science and technology of herboristic, cosmetic and dietetic products).
-Supervisor of numerous thesis for the courses of Pharmacy, Biotechnology, medical chemistry.
- A.A 2010-2011 teaching support in “Cellular Biology” class (Biomolecular science and technologies).
-Currently adivisor of a PhD student in ‘Biomolecular Science’.

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1.Szabadkai G, Simoni AM, Bianchi K, De Stefani D, Leo S, Wieckowski MR,
Rizzuto R. Mitochondrial dynamics and Ca(2+) signaling. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2006 Apr 20.

2. Sara Leo* Carlotta Dell'Agnello*; Alessandro Agostino; Gyorgy Szabadkai; Cecilia Tiveron; Alessandra Zulian; Alessandro Prelle; Pierre Roubertoux; Rosario Rizzuto; Massimo Zeviani. Increased longevity and refractoriness to Ca2+-dependent neurodegeneration in Surf1 knockout mice. Human Molecular Genetics 2007.

3. Romagnoli A, Aguiari P, De Stefani D, Leo S, Marchi S, Rimessi A, Zecchini E, Pinton P, Rizzuto R. Endoplasmic reticulum/mitochondria calcium cross-talk. Novartis Found Symp. 2007.

4.Sara Leo*, Paola Aguiari*, Barbara Zavan*, Vincenzo Vindigni, Alessandro Rimessi, Katiuscia Bianchi, Chiara Franzin, Roberta Cortivo, Marco Rossato, RobertoVettor, Giovanni Abatagelo, Tullio Pozzan, Paolo Pinton and Rosario Rizzuto. High glucose induces adipogenic differentiation of muscle-derived stem cells. PNAS 2008 Jan 29.

5.Sara Leo, György Szabadkai and Rosario Rizzuto. The mitochondrial antioxidants MitoE2 and MitoQ10 increase Ca2+ loading upon cell stimulation by inhibiting Ca2+ efflux from the organelle. Annals of New York Academy Sciences Dec 2008.

6.Rizzuto R, Marchi S, Bonora M, Aguiari P, Bononi A, De Stefani D, Giorgi C, Leo S, Rimessi A, Siviero R, Zecchini E, Pinton P. Ca(2+) transfer from the ER to mitochondria: when, how and why. Biochim Biophys Acta. Mar 2009.

7.Celsi F, Pizzo P, Brini M, Leo S, Fotino C, Pinton P, Rizzuto R. Mitochondria, calcium and cell death: a deadly triad in neurodegeneration. Biochim Biophys Acta. May 2009.

No projects are available to students for the current accademic year.