Simona Lodato

Simona Lodato is Associate Professor at Humanitas University and Group Leader at Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Milan. She trained at the University of Naples and the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine under the supervision of Michèle Studer, and at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, where she was a postdoctoral fellow with Paola Arlotta. She has long been fascinated by the cellular diversity of the brain and how it is shaped by genetic programs from the earliest stages of development. Her research now focuses on the role of early neural activity — and its modulation by environmental signals — in establishing this diversity, and on how genetic factors and external cues can shape it through dedicated brain barriers, particularly the choroid plexus. Her lab combines mouse models and advanced 3D human organoid systems with state-of-the-art single-cell and functional approaches to dissect the mechanisms underlying cortical circuit development and its disruption in neurological diseases, including epilepsy.