Massari, Paola, Ph.D.
Ph.D. and Post-doctoral training: University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy and Chiron-Biocine, Siena, Italy
Dr. Massari’s main research interests are in the pathogenic bacteria Neisseria meningitidis, in particular regard to the mechanisms of immune adjuvanticity of neisserial porins and their involvement in modulation of apoptosis.
Her work with the Neisseria porin proteins has described their ability to modulate apoptosis by acting on mitochondria and to induce target cells survival after infection. In addition, Dr. Massari’s work demonstrated that Neisserial porins immune stimulatory ability is related to their interaction with TLR2 and TLR1, which is necessary to activate cells signaling in the target cells.
