Dr Valentina Di Pietro is a Molecular Neuroscientist with experience in Genetics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. During her PhD at the Catholic University of Rome, she specialised in the identification of biomarkers for the diagnosis of mild, repeated and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a focus on the molecular mechanisms of trauma. She has also been involved in the setup of a new analytical HPLC method for the determination of biochemical markers of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEM) and she was in charge of the genetic analysis of related mutations. In 2008 she joined the Division of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Southampton where she was involved in the development of an in vitro model of acute neurodegenerative diseases. This model is now recognised as one of the most applicable alternatives to the use of in vivo experiments.
In 2012, Dr Di Pietro joined the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham where she is studying MicroRNAs as biomarkers in serum of TBI patients and the potential role of MicroRNA-based therapy for trauma.
In 2017, Valentina was awarded the prestigious BRIDGE fellowship to undertake TBI research in collaboration with the University of Urbana-Champaign Illinois, USA. The fellowship allows Dr Di Pietro to combine neuroimaging techniques available in the US with the results of the microRNA study.
Dr Di Pietro is also founder and board member of a new company “Mirna diagnostics Ltd” interested in the development of “the concussion test”.