Project Title: Investigating the interplay between circadian clocks and mTOR signalling in microglia and its disruption in neurodegeneration
Supervisor: Dr Marco Brancaccio
Location: Level 5, Burlington Danes Building, Hammersmith Campus, Du Cane Road, W12 0NN
About Me
I am a PhD student in the Brancaccio laboratory in the Department of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London, funded by the UK Dementia Research Institute. My project is focused on investigating the interplay between circadian clocks and the hTau accumulation in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).
I became fascinated by neuroscience during my Bachelor in Biotechnology, when my cellular biology professor, a scholar of Nobel laureate Rita Levi Montalcini, introduced us to her discoveries in the field of neurobiology. From there I continued my journey in science with an MSc in Neuroscience at the University of Trieste, and then joined the Brancaccio Lab for my Master's thesis project as a visiting student at Imperial. Here I started investigating the circadian regulation of inflammatory protein CD68 in microglia cells.
When not thinking about science, I love to plan hiking adventures and explore the outdoors!
Qualifications
- MSc Neuroscience (Distinction), University of Trieste
- BSc Biotechnology, University of Bologna
Research Interests
My main research focus is on the characterisation of circadian dysfunction in a novel model of taupathy, expressing human Tau protein in the SCN. I am interested in dissecting the contribution of neurons to circadian rhythms and how their function is impacted by tau accumulation.
In my project I will combine in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo techniques to try and dissect the mechanisms leading to circadian dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases.
Conferences
- UK Clock Club (Talk, best talk runner up) 2025
- Interdivision Symposium, ICL (talk) 2025
- SRBR (Poster, Merit prize) 2024
- Connectome (poster, 2022) 2021-2024
Contact Details
Email: m.ferrari20@imperial.ac.uk
LinkedIn: marco-ferrari-5499941a4
