Dr. Colla earned her PhD degree in Molecular Biology and Pathology from the University of Parma, Italy. During her postdoctoral years she joined the Division of Neuropathology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where her research focused on elucidating molecular and cellular aspects of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and alpha- synucleinopathies. In 2010 she was awarded a career research grant by the Italian Ministry of Education and she returned to Italy as Principal Investigator at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where she established her lab. Her major contributions to the study of alpha-synucleinopathies and PD focus on the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in mediating neurodegeneration, on the link between ER and alpha-synuclein toxic species and on the analysis of brain-gut axis in the pathogenesis of PD.