Dr. Silvia Bonanno

Dr Silvia Bonanno graduated in Medicine at the University of Genoa (Italy) in 2009 presenting the “Study of the effects of mesenchymal stem cells on microglial activation and oxidative stress in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis”. Dr Bonanno interest in understanding mechanisms underpinning neurological diseases stem by visiting the laboratory of Neurogenetics of Prof. Jorge Oksenberg (University of California, San Francisco), and developed through the internship at the Clinic and Laboratory of Neuroimmunology at the Department of Neurology of the University of Genoa, supervised by Prof. Antonio Uccelli, where she developed experience in managing animal and cellular models.
Since 2010 she has been working on the clinical and laboratory research activities within the Neuroimmunology and Neuromuscular Diseases Unit at the Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta (FINCB), Milan (Italy), headed by Dr. Renato Mantegazza. Here, she conducts clinical spontaneous and sponsored research activities in the field of neuromuscular disorders, with the aim to increase therapeutic opportunities for patients, personalize treatments and enhance health outcomes. Concurrently, she joined the laboratory of Molecular Biology and Neuroimmunology at Neurology IV, where her research activity developed through the last fourteen years working in understanding neuromuscular disease mechanisms, with a specific focus in biomarkers identifications and translational research.
In 2016 Dr. Bonanno endend her residency in Neurology and in 2018 she obtained her PhD degree in Neuroscience. In the frame of the PhD program, she attended an internship as visiting fellow at the laboratory and multidisciplinary clinic of the ALS Weinberg Center at Thomas Jefferson University of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), under the supervision of Prof. Piera Pasinelli and Prof. Davide Trotti. There, she gained new techniques starting from human fibroblasts to develop patient specific in vitro models, which was already a focus of her translational interest. Thanks to the experience earned in patient-derived skeletal muscle models, in 2017 she was recipient of a 3 year- Cariplo Foundation Grant for Biomedical Research (FRRB), directed to physician scientists, with a project titled: “A new Skeletal muscle model for Translational research and Education in a Patient-oriented study for ALS (A STEP for ALS).”
During her whole professional experience, Dr. Bonanno has been trying to combine clinical activities on patients with basic and translational research. She developed a specific expertise in the management of patients affected by muscular, neuromuscular and neuroimmunological diseases of the neuromuscular junction, including the execution and reporting of muscle biopsies. Currently, Dr. Bonanno is Consultant neurologist at Neuroimmunology and Neuromuscular Disease Unit, Neurologic Institute “Carlo Besta”, Milan (Italy), where she is P.I. of two Clinical Trials and an International Registry in the field of myasthenia gravis, and sub-I in more than 10 randomized clinical trials. She is also involved in tutoring activity of attending neurologists and residents in neurology who attend the neuromuscular clinic, and participates in the coordination of the research projects of two PostDoc researchers, a PhD student and a senior fellowship in the lab.