Paola Alberti

PostDoc

MD, PhD
+39 02 6448 8154
paola.alberti@unimib.it
Paola Alberti

Paola Alberti was born in Como (Italy) in 1985.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

July 2010: Degree: MD – 110/110 cum laude – University of Milano-Bicocca (Monza, Italy)

June 2016 – Degree: Board in Neurology – 70/70 cum laude – University of Milano-Bicocca (Monza, Italy)

February 2019Degree: PhD in Neuroscience – University of Milano-Bicocca (Monza, Italy)

RESEARCH INTEREST AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Her main expertise is related to peripheral nervous system diseases, especially Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity (CIPN). She is an active member of the Toxic Neuropathy Consortium (TNC), part of the Peripheral Nervous System society (PNS). During the Residency in Neurology, she was a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University (Prof. D.R. Cornblath, MD) to refine her knowledge of neurophysiological techniques. Since 2015 she has been pursuing an interest for preclinical research and joined the Experimental Neurology Unit (ENU, University of Milano-Bicocca) team, where she completed the PhD program in Neuroscience (2019). Her PhD project was focused on Oxaliplatin Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity in preclinical models: she introduced advanced neurophysiological techniques, nerve excitability testing, to ENU after having learnt them from Prof H. Bostock, (UCL, London). She was a visiting fellow at University of Baltimore (Prof. S.G. Dorsey and Prof C. Renn) where learnt DRG recordings in preclinical models. Since August 2016 she is a consultant Neurologist at Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori (Monza, Italy): there she is the treating physician for outpatients affected by CIPN. She is the PI in this Center for the INTERNATIONAL CHEMOTHERAPY-INDUCED NEUROTOXICITY (CIPN) ASSESSMENT AND VALIDATION STUDY (ICAVS) which involves 30 Centers around the globe (US, Canada, South America, Africa, India, Australia). In the same Center, she is also PI of the CIPN COST study (www.cipncare.com), aiming at ascertaining socio-economic burden related to CIPN (awarded a 115,000 euros grant, by UNIMIB), and of the NEUPER study, aiming at ascertain efficacy of physical treatment to reverse sensory ataxia due to polyneuropathy. She is responsible for human anatomy teaching courses (at UNIMIB since 2016 and at Lunex University in 2020). In 2022 she received a personal grant of 250,000 euros from Fondazione Cariplo to carry out a 3-year preclinical project, entitled Sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX) and ion channels: pivotal elements leading to axonal damage in peripheral nerves?, with the aim of investigating mechanisms of axonopathy with a translational approach.

SKILLS AND EXPERTISE

  • Standard and advanced neurophysiology at a clinical and preclinical level
  • Morphological and morphometrical analysis with a specific focus on peripheral nerves and dorsal root ganglia
  • Clinical trial design/clinimetrics and data analysis

COLLABORATIONS

  • Johns Hopkins University (Prof. DR Cornblath, MD; Baltimore, US)
  • University of Maryland (Prof. S.G. Dorsey, PhD, and Prof. C. Renn, PhD; Baltimore, US)
  • Politecnico di Milano (Prof. U. Spagnolini, PhD; Milan, Italy)
  • University of Padua (Prof. C. Briani, MD; Padua, Italy)
  • Saint Andrews State General Hospital of Patras (Andreas Argyriou, MD; Patras, Greece)
  • University of Michigan (Ellen Smith, PhD)
  • Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge-ICO l’Hospitalet (J. Bruna, MD, PhD; Barcelona, Spain)
  • Maastricht University Medical Center (ISJ Merkies, MD, PhD, and CG Faber, MD, PhD; Maastricht, the Netherlands)
  • Kathryn W. Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine (Prof. Sandra Rieger, PhD; Bar Harbor, US))
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (Nick Housley, PhD, Atlanta, Georgia, US).

POSITIONS

  • Assistant professor at University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy (Human Anatomy, SDD BIO/16)
  • Consultant Neurologist at Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza, Italy

ROLES IN NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

  • 2022 – chair of the neurological complications study group of the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC)
  • 2022 – board member of the Italian Peripheral Nerve Society (PNS)
  • 2022 – board member of the BicoccAlumni association
  • 2021 – 2022 Institutional panel member on the EAN Scientific Panel Neuroscience/translational neurology, Austria
  • 2021 – Vice chair of the PNS Junior board and Toxic Neuropathy Consortium repr., USA
  • 2020 – 2022 Co-chair of the CIPN working group of the MASCC, Canada

AWARDS AND GRANTS

  • Awarded Cariplo Foundation grant “Ricerca biomedica condotta da giovani ricercatori 2022” for the project Sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX) and ion channels: pivotal elements leading to axonal damage in peripheral nerves? (personal grant: 250,000 euros)
  • Premio Giovani Talenti 2021 (first place, Accademia dei Lincei/University of Milano Bicocca)
  • Awarded Bicocca starting grant (December 2020) as PI for the conduction of a 24 months research project focused on socio-economic burden related to (personal grant: 115,000 euros)
  • Premio Giovani Talenti 2020 (second place, Accademia dei Lincei/University of Milano Bicocca)
  • AIPN prize 2018 for the best oral presentation at the ASNP meeting 2018 (Rome, Italy) for the contribution: “Oxaliplatin Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity: a rat model that reproduces acute and chronic phenomena”; personal grant of 500 euros.
  • Awarded second place at Falling Wall Labs 2017 among all Italian participants with the project “Breaking the wall of Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neurotox”
  • Travel grants as Young Presenting Author (oral communications) for these meetings: ASNP meeting 2013 (Verona, Italy), PNS meeting 2013 (Saint Malò, France), ASNP meeting 2014 (Sorrento, Italy), EFNS 2014 (Istanbul, Turkey), PNS meeting 2015 (Quebec City, Canada), SIN 2016 (Venezia, Italy), SIN 2017 (Napoli, Italy), ASNP 2018 (Rome, Italy), ASNP 2019 (Padua, Italy).

INVITED SPEAKER AT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS

1) Alberti, P (2012). Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neuropathy. Mediterranean Area Neurological Societies Meeting. Nicosia. Cyprus.

2) Alberti, P (2012). Reti europee e nazionali per la CIPN. Meeting at th Camera dei Deputati, “Ricerca, innovazione e competitività: quali vantaggi per il paese e per i pazienti? Il farmaco: un settore trainante per la ricerca e lo sviluppo Da industria 2014 a Horizon 2020. Rome. Italy.

3) Alberti, P. (2013). Epidemiologia e clinica della CIPN. 36° Congresso Nazionale AISD. Verona, Italy.

4) Alberti, P. (2016). Neuropatia nei pazienti affetti da M. di Fabry. Advanced Master School Fabry. Monza. Italy.

5) Alberti, P. (2016). Oxaliplatin Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity: what we know and what we need. VI European Conference on cured and chronic cancer patients. Syracuse. Italy.

6). Alberti P. (2017). Testi e siti. Primo incontro per gli specializzandi in Neurologia. Rome. Italy.

7) Alberti, P. (2017). Dolore neuropatico postchemio e radioterapia. XII convegno Trivento dei centri di terapia del dolore e cure palliative. Padova. Italy.

8) Alberti, P. (2018). Novità in materia di neuropatie periferiche. La richiesta di competenza neurologica nel prossimo futuro – Seconda edizione, meeting. Rome, Italy.

9) Alberti, P. (2020)Il dolore nel paziente oncologico. La richiesta di competenza neurologica nel prossimo futuro meeting. Rome (virtual event due to COVID-19 outbreak). Italy.

10) Alberti, P. (2021). Toxic, systemic disease and drug-related polyneuropathies. IV school on neuromuscular diseases. Lviv (virtual event due to COVID-19 outbreak). Ucraina.

11) Alberti P. (2021). Introduzione al mondo della ricerca. In Meeting “La richiesta di competenza neurologica nel prossimo futuro – Quinta edizione” meeting. Rome. Italy.

12) Alberti P. (2022). Different Approaches to CIPN Assessment: Serum Biomarkers. 2022 PNS meeting. Miami. USA.

13) Alberti P. (2023). Oxaliplatin Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity: From Bed to Bench Side and Vice Versa. 2023 Neupsig meeting. Lisbon. Portugal.

14) Alberti P. (2023). Innovative human anatomy teaching activities: University of Milano-Bicocca experience with Anatomage table. 2023 Anatomage European conference. Milan. Italy

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

She authored 82 publications on peer-review international journals. Her current H-index is 34 with more than 3000 citations since 2010 (Scopus, October 2023). Ten representative publications are reported here:

  1. Park SB, Cetinkaya-Fisgin A, Argyriou AA, Höke A, Cavaletti G, Alberti P. Axonal degeneration in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity: clinical and experimental evidence. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2023 Apr 4:jnnp-2021-328323.
  2. Pozzi E, Monza L, Ballarini E, Bossi M, Rodriguez-Menendez V, Canta A, Chiorazzi A, Carozzi VA, Crippa L, Marmiroli P, Cavaletti G, Alberti P. Morpho-Functional Characterisation of the Rat Ventral Caudal Nerve in a Model of Axonal Peripheral Neuropathy. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jan 14;24(2):1687.
  3. Ballarini E, Malacrida A, Rodriguez-Menendez V, Pozzi E, Canta A, Chiorazzi A, Monza L, Semperboni S, Meregalli C, Carozzi VA, Hashemi M, Nicolini G, Scuteri A, Housley SN, Cavaletti G, Alberti P. Sodium-Calcium Exchanger 2: A Pivotal Role in Oxaliplatin Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity and Axonal Damage? Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Sep 2;23(17):10063.
  4. Alberti P, Semperboni S, Cavaletti G, Scuteri A. Neurons: The Interplay between Cytoskeleton, Ion Channels/Transporters and Mitochondria. Cells. 2022 Aug 11;11(16):2499. 
  5. Alberti P, Bernasconi DP, Cornblath DR, Merkies ISJ, Park SB, Velasco R, Bruna J, Psimaras D, Koeppen S, Pace A, Dorsey SG, Argyriou AA, Kalofonos HP, Briani C, Schenone A, Faber CG, Mazzeo A, Grisold W, Valsecchi M, Cavaletti G. Prospective Evaluation of Health Care Provider and Patient Assessments in Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity. Neurology. 2021 Aug 17;97(7):e660-e672.
  6. Monza L, Fumagalli G, Chiorazzi A, Alberti PAddressing the Need of a Translational Approach in Peripheral Neuropathy Research: Morphology Meets Function. Brain Sci. 2021 Jan 22;11(2). doi: 10.3390/brainsci11020139. PubMed PMID: 33499072.
  7. Alberti P, Beretta S, Piatti M, Karantzoulis A, Piatti ML, Santoro P, Viganò M, Giovannelli G, Pirro F, Montisano DA, Appollonio I, Ferrarese C. Guillain-Barré syndrome related to COVID-19 infection. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2020 Jul;7(4). 
  8. Alberti P, Canta A, Chiorazzi A, Fumagalli G, Meregalli C, Monza L, Pozzi E, Ballarini E, Rodriguez-Menendez V, Oggioni N, Sancini G, Marmiroli P, Cavaletti G. Topiramate prevents oxaliplatin-related axonal hyperexcitability and oxaliplatin induced peripheral neurotoxicityNeuropharmacology. 2020 Mar 1;164:107905. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.107905. Epub 2019 Dec 4. PubMed PMID: 31811874.
  9. Alberti P, Rossi E, Argyriou AA, Kalofonos HP, Briani C, Cacciavillani M, Campagnolo M, Bruna J, Velasco R, Cazzaniga ME, Cortinovis D, Valsecchi MG, Cavaletti G. Risk stratification of oxaliplatin induced peripheral neurotoxicity applying electrophysiological testing of dorsal sural nerve. Support Care Cancer. 2018 Sep;26(9):3143-3151. 
  10. Alberti P, Rossi E, Cornblath DR, Merkies IS, Postma TJ, Frigeni B, Bruna J, Velasco R, Argyriou AA, Kalofonos HP, Psimaras D, Ricard D, Pace A, Galiè E, Briani C, Dalla Torre C, Faber CG, Lalisang RI, Boogerd W, Brandsma D, Koeppen S, Hense J, Storey D, Kerrigan S, Schenone A, Fabbri S, Valsecchi MG, Cavaletti GPhysician-assessed and patient-reported outcome measures in chemotherapy-induced sensory peripheral neurotoxicity: two sides of the same coin. Ann Oncol. 2014 Jan;25(1):257-64. 

 

To get the complete bibliography, please visit:

ORCID PROFILE

SCOPUS PROFILE

RESEARCHGATE PROFILE

PUBMED BIBLIOGRAPHY