Distinguished Speaker Series | Enrica Strettoi, Ph.D.

E. Strettoi has a long-standing research activity in the field of retinal neurobiology with a major expertise in
studies of functional organization of the normal and diseased retina. Her main approach to study retinal
biology is a combination of modern neuroanatomical and cell biological techniques. She often works in
collaboration with retinal neurophysiologists. She has contributed classical studies on the organization of
retinal networks active during scotopic vision in mammalian (“the rod pathway”) and discovered major
hallmarks of retinal architecture (such as the relative distribution of rod and cone bipolar cells) using
combinations of light, confocal and electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry and quantitative
neuroanatomy. In the last 15 years, E. Strettoi has become an expert on animal models of Retinitis
Pigmentosa, bringing to light characteristic features of inner retinal cells remodeling occurring as an effect
of photoreceptor degeneration. Remodeling affects deeply the design and efficacy of specific therapeutic
approaches for this family of disorders and for these lines of research Dr. Strettoi has been supported for
two grant cycles, covering 10 years, by the National Eye Institute of the NIH, USA, as a foreign investigator.
She is now supported by national and international agencies and foundations to develop approaches to
delay photoreceptor degeneration and blindness. These multidisciplinary studies make use of
neuroanatomy, molecular biology and visual behavior techniques, have translational nature and implicate
collaboration with ophthalmologists and clinical experts. E. Strettoi has a dense network of national and
international scientific interactions and is invited annually to scientific symposia and seminars..