Affiliation: Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Dr. Ilaria Balbo earned her degree in medical biotechnology from the University of Turin in 2017 and began researching Spinocerebellar Ataxia 38 (SCA38) in Professor Filippo Tempia’s laboratory. She validated the SCA38 mouse model before pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at the same laboratory, where she further explored the model and investigated the pathological mechanisms underlying the disease. In September 2022, she joined Dr. Sheng-Han Kuo’s laboratory at Columbia University in New York as a postdoctoral researcher. Her current work focuses on translational studies to identify common circuit alterations across various types of cerebellar ataxias, with the goal of developing circuit-based therapeutic approaches.