I'm a veterinary pathologist, graduated with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Teramo (Italy) in 2003. After completing a residency program at the School of Veterinary Medicine of Bern (Switzerlands), I became a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Pathologists (ECVP) in 2011. Before joining Utrecht University in January 2017, I was Assistant professor in Veterinary Pathology and teacher of Cellular Pathophysiology at the University of Teramo (Italy), from 2005 to 2016.
My main research interests are veterinary and comparative oncology and dermatopathology. My research is now focused on finding new therapeutic approaches and biomarkers based on extracellular vesicles for canine tumours and on the study of spontaneous canine melanoma as a model for the study of human melanoma.
Working at the Dutch Molecular Pathology Center, I also have a strong interest on the pathology of laboratory animals and pathological analysis of animal models, with expertise on liver pathology (cancer, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) and age-related lesions.