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Annalisa Savardi

Affiliated Researcher
Brain Development and Disease
Research center
About

Annalisa graduated in Medical Biotechnology (BSc) at the University of Milan (Italy) in July 2012 and in Neurobiology (MSc) at the University of Pavia (Italy) with a thesis on the role of the synapse protein SNAP-25 in neurological disorders, under the supervision of Professor Michela Matteoli (Humanitas Institute). After one year of fellowship, she started her PhD program in Neuroscience under the supervision of Dr. Laura Cancedda and Dr. Marco De Vivo at IIT. During these 3 years she focused on the discovery and characterization of a novel drug candidate, which resulted in ameliorating core symptoms in Down syndrome and autism models. She obtained her PhD in Neuroscience in February 2019 from University of Genoa (Italy). Then, she obtained a position of Post Doc at Fondazione Telethon, affiliated to the Brain Development & Disease lab at IIT, to plan and perform further preclinical analysis for the development of the  drug candidate toward advanced preclinical phases. After these 2 years, in 2021 she was awarded by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Jerome Lejeune Foundation to study epilepsy in Down syndrome, hosted by Brain Development & Disease lab at IIT.

Currently, she holds a position of Team Leader Neuropharmacology at IAMA Therapeutics, a recently founded series-A pharmaceutical company developing NKCC1 inhibitors to treat brain disorders. 

Annalisa has a stron background in neurobiology, pharmacology, behavioural and biochemistry techniques, with 7 years of experience in CNS drug discovery. 

Education

Title: Ph.D. in Neuroscience
Institute: Università degli Studi di Genova and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Location: Genoa
Country: Italy
From: 2015 To: 2018

Title: MSc in Neurobiology
Institute: Università degli Studi di Pavia
Location: Pavia
Country: Italy
From: 2012 To: 2014

Title: BSc in Medical Biotechnology
Institute: Università degli Studi di Milano
Location: Milan
Country: Italy
From: 2009 To: 2012

Top Publications
2021
Borgogno M., Savardi A., Manigrasso J., Turci A., Portioli C., Ottonello G., Bertozzi S.M., Armirotti A., Contestabile A., Cancedda L., De Vivo M.
Design, Synthesis,In VitroandIn VivoCharacterization of Selective NKCC1 Inhibitors for the Treatment of Core Symptoms in down Syndrome
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 64, (no. 14), pp. 10203-10229
Article Journal
2021
Savardi A., Borgogno M., De Vivo M., Cancedda L.
Pharmacological tools to target NKCC1 in brain disorders
Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, vol. 42, (no. 12), pp. 1009-1034
2020
Savardi A., Borgogno M., Narducci R., La Sala G., Ortega J.A., Summa M., Armirotti A., Bertorelli R., Contestabile A., De Vivo M., Cancedda L.
Discovery of a Small Molecule Drug Candidate for Selective NKCC1 Inhibition in Brain Disorders
Chem, vol. 6, (no. 8), pp. 2073-2096
2020
Pinto B., Morelli G., Rastogi M., Savardi A., Fumagalli A., Petretto A., Bartolucci M., Varea E., Catelani T., Contestabile A., Perlini L.E., Cancedda L.
Rescuing Over-activated Microglia Restores Cognitive Performance in Juvenile Animals of the Dp(16) Mouse Model of Down Syndrome
Neuron, vol. 108, (no. 5), pp. 887-904.e12
2018
Cwetsch A.W., Pinto B., Savardi A., Cancedda L.
In vivo methods for acute modulation of gene expression in the central nervous system
Progress in Neurobiology, vol. 168, pp. 69-85