Katia Corano Scheri

Biography

My primary research interest is the molecular and cellular mechanisms of tissue growth, repair and regeneration. My background in genetics and molecular biology has provided me with fundamental knowledge and technical skills essential to plan and perform a broad range of experiments. As a PhD student at Sapienza
University of Rome in Italy, I conducted a project focused on the identification of a role for c-Met signaling pathway in testicular germ cell tumors, a specific subset of testicular cancer. During my PhD study I learned more about this disease working with some of the most prominent experts in this field at the Erasmus Medical center of Rotterdam in Netherlands as a visiting PhD student. I continued to pursue my career as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pediatrics Department at Northwestern University in the Hayashida Lab where I studied the pathogenesis of fibrosis in systemic sclerosis. Over the two years of my post-doctoral training, I made significant contribution to the team with my knowledge of molecular biology and its relevant techniques. I also learned more techniques, especially at single cell level and how to analyze these large datasets. We already published a manuscript and several are under review.
My primary research goal is to understand how we can translate knowledge of the molecular mechanisms regulating fibrosis to improve therapeutical approaches. While I took over the skin fibrosis project in the Hayashida lab, I developed my interest toward studying other organ fibrosis.
I moved to Dr. Fawzi lab at Northwestern University, Department of Ophthalmology, in July 2022. I am currently working on deciphering molecular events in the fibrogenesis in the eye, in the context of ischemic retinopathies.