Valentina Fossati, PhD

Dr. Valentina Fossati is a Senior Investigator at the JAX-NYSCF Collaborative, where she leads research on neurodegenerative diseases using human iPSC-derived cell models. She earned her undergraduate degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and her Ph.D. in Stem Cell Biology from the University of Bologna and completed her postdoctoral training at Mount Sinai’s Black Family Stem Cell Institute. Since joining NYSCF as a principal investigator in 2011, Dr. Fossati has pioneered human stem cell–based models to study the roles of glial cells in neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. Her lab generated the first iPSC lines from people with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and developed protocols to create key glial cell types — including oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and microglia — as well as brain organoids and co-culture systems. Dr. Fossati also sent the first patient-derived brain organoids into space for long-term culture aboard the International Space Station, advancing our understanding of how the human brain responds to microgravity.