Enrica Strettoi

Enrica Strettoi professional profile

Enrica Strettoi is a Director of Research at the Institute of Neuroscience of the National Research Council of Italy (IN-CNR), in Pisa. She has a University degree in Biology and a PhD in Neuroscience and her background is in the field of retinal neurobiology, to which she contributed with now classical studies of correlations of structure and function. Her approach consists in combining quantitative microscopy with retinal physiology, visual behaviour and, more recently, molecular techniques, to understand the functional role of retinal neurons and their contribution to information processing in the visual system.
In the last years, she has dedicated most of her research activity to understand the pathophysiology of inherited photoreceptor degeneration causing disorders responsible for photoreceptor cell death and blindness. She has implemented experimental strategies of photoreceptor rescue, based on pharmacological approaches as well as onto manipulation of the environment, with the final goal of developing treatments to delay human retinal diseases. She collaborates with scientists located in Italy, Europe, the USA and Australia for studies in the field of retinal pato-physiology, biochemistry and neuronal circuitry.
She teaches Physiological Genomics to Neuroscience students at the University of Pisa and has mentored almost 20 PhD students in her laboratory and abroad. Enrica Strettoi has authored over 70 articles and contributions to textbooks and encyclopaedias and has been recipient of numerous international grants, including a 10-year research project funded by the National Institute of Health, USA, and other projects supported by the Macula Vision research Foundation and the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society. Current funding is from Italian and international organizations, including the EU. E. Strettoi has been nominated among outstanding women in Vision Research and Ophthalmology by the European Vision Institute (Brussels).