Biologist & Principal Investigator
Valentina Bollati holds a degree in Medical Biotechnology and is Head of the Environmental Epigenetics Laboratory at the University of Milan. She earned a PhD in Occupational Medicine, pioneering research on how environmental exposures influence epigenetic and molecular mechanisms and their links to human health. Her work integrates environmental health, medicine, epidemiology, and molecular and cellular biology, with applications across multiple conditions, including cancer, obesity, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, depression, and pregnancy-related disorders.
Her first independent research line focused on epigenetic alterations in malignant melanoma, supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research. She later investigated the role of extracellular vesicles and microRNAs in mediating the effects of air pollution on cardiovascular and respiratory systems, within the ERC-funded SPHERE project.
She currently leads the MAMELI project, funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant, aimed at understanding how the exposome shapes human health and well-being. In this project, she defines the research objectives, methodological approach, and overall study design.