Dr Viola Introini

I study malaria parasite invasion of red blood cells and cytoadhesion of infected cells to the host vasculature using real-time microscopy, microfluidics, and biophysical analysis techniques.

I am a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at EMBL Barcelona in Maria Bernabeu's group and working on the blood-brain barrier. Previously I was a Wellcome Trust Junior Posdoc Fellow in Julian Rayner’s group at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. I completed my PhD in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory under the supervision of Prof Pietro Cicuta. My research focusses on the study of the malaria disease though live microscopy, microfluidics, and biophysics, particularly the mechanism by which malaria parasites invade human red blood cells and the cytoadhesion of infected cells to the human vasculature. I graduated at the University of Pavia, Italy, obtaining the Bachelor and Master’s degree in Physics, with a focus on photonics and nonlinear optics.

I nurture multiple interests spanning from walking (Camino de Santiago, UK National Three Peaks Challenge, and Camí de Cavalls) to crafts and music such as making my own violin!

Consulting projects – Developed business strategy for Cambridge Consulting Network and i-Teams 2017.

Organisation of the Cavendish Graduate Student Conference in 2017 for 180 students, including an external keynote speaker.