Daniela Lecca completed her education in Italy, where she received her Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of Cagliari for her research on the neuroprotective and immunomodulatory actions of a PPAR-γ agonist in MPTP mouse models of Parkinson’s disease. During her Ph.D. program, she spent a short-term period as a visiting Ph.D. student at the Dept of Neuroscience of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. She carried out a project on non-motor symptoms onset in a MPTP chronic model of Parkinson’s disease. After completing her Ph.D., she won a fellowship from her University that allowed her to join as a special volunteer the Synaptic Plasticity section of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, Maryland; here, she worked on a research project on the role of L-DOPA-mediated neuroinflammation in the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, by a 6-OHDA mouse model.
“BHI is proud to work with NIA and its inaugural Research and Entrepreneurial Training Fellow Daniela Lecca,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “BHI’s team will give their Postdocs experience in product development and commercialization that they might encounter in industry or entrepreneurship.”
Shortly after the end of her period at NIDA, Daniela joined the Drug Design and Development Section at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore as a Postdoc, where she worked on the preclinical investigational phases of selected chemical compounds with neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory potential, in rodent models of neurodegenerative conditions- such as Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury. In September 2020, she was selected as an inaugural recipient of the Research and Entrepreneurial Training Immersion (RETI) fellowship by the NIA Office of Small Business Research. The program is focused on improving the skillset and knowledge base of NIA postdocs in product development and commercialization.