Prof. Susanna Rosi PhD
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science
Brain and Spinal Injury Center
Department of Neurological Surgery
Weill Institute for Neuroscience
Kavli Institute of Fundamental Neuroscience
University of California at San Francisco
Altos Labs
San Francisco/Redwood City (CA), USA

I was born and raised under the Tuscan sun; I grew up playing in sunflowers fields with my dog. We had rabbits, ducks, chickens, and many cats; my favorite memory is the large vegetable garden that my father grew even coming home after 12 hrs. of work and a long commute, every season a different vegetable. Our living habits were around the seasons. My scientific path was a rather uncommon one, my parents were allowed to study only through third grade and my brothers though 8th grade, I was the first to get a higher degree while working. I graduated from the University of Florence with the highest encomium ever given in my course, then moved to the University of Arizona for a post doc in the Neural System Memory and Aging with Carol Barnes and soon started my own lab in the Departments of Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science and Neurological Surgery at UCSF in 2006. I was the Lewis and Ruth Cozen Chair Professor at UCSF and NASA investigator but decided to leave all behind to follow my dream at Altos. My previous work focused on understanding how immune cells relate to cognitive outputs in the context of aging, traumatic brain injury (TBI), cancer therapy, and space radiation. Across multiple paradigms we found that reprogramming of immune cell populations can reverse cognitive modalities (including learning, memory, social behaviors, risk-taking phenotypes). These studies harness the power of immune modulation as both potential biomarkers and drivers of cognitive decline in multiple neurodegenerative states. More recently, we demonstrated that modulation of the Integrated Stress Response (ISR) rejuvenates old mice by alleviating memory deficits and restoring neuronal and immune dysfunctions. Furthermore, the long-lasting cognitive dysfunction measured after TBI can be reversed by briefly inhibiting the ISR pharmacologically. The curing effects of this short treatment are long-lasting, suggesting that a mal-adaptive ISR is locked into a self-sustaining feedback loop that is the culprit of the cognitive defects. We aim to find out how this loop is wired cellularly and molecularly. Contribution to Mission As a neuroscientist and neuroimmunologist, my interest is to study the mechanisms responsible for the cognitive dysfunctions observed in the context of ageing, traumatic brain injuries, and neurodegenerative states. A major goal of the studies is to decipher the role of various brain cell types (neurons, astrocytes, microglial cells, glial cells) as well as peripheral immune cell responses to ageing, trauma, neurodegenerative diseases with the goal of understanding on a molecular and cellular level how long-lasting cognitive defects can be reversed. Our work provides powerful proof-of-concept that age and injury related dysfunction can be fixed, even long after initiating events have occurred. The Rosi Team’s studies relate molecular and cellular alterations to system- and organismal-wide changes. The team’s expertise in rodent behavioral, cognitive, sensorimotor, and neuropathy models allows for improved understanding of cellular and molecular pathways across multiple age-reported maladaptive outcomes. This allows for rapid screening of intervention strategies across multiple neurodegenerative diseases. I am Thrilled about the Altos Retreat to meet in person my colleagues, to discuss the common mission and how to effectively achieve it together. —- I was born and raised under the Tuscan sun. As neuroscientist and neuroimmunologist, I am interested in understanding the mechanisms responsible for the cognitive dysfunctions observed in the context of ageing, traumatic brain injuries, and neurodegenerative states. Across multiple paradigms we have found that reprogramming of immune cell populations can reverse cognitive modalities (including learning, memory, social behaviors, risk-taking phenotypes). Our team discoverer that cognitive deficits measured after trauma or as a consequence of aging can be fully reversed by briefly inhibiting the integrated stress response pharmacologically. Our studies harness the power of immune modulation as both potential biomarkers and drivers of cognitive decline in multiple neurodegenerative states. Come and talk to me about: neuroinflammation, microglia, macrophages, innate immune system, cognition, brain injury, and being a mom of twins, running, languages, everything Italian and sunflowers.