Fresco Research Fellowship Program | NYU Langone Health

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Neuroscience Institute Postdoctoral Program Fresco Research Fellowship Program

Fresco Research Fellowship Program

Through its clinical and basic research fellowship programs, the Fresco Institute for Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders creates new opportunities for early-career neuroscientists and physicians from Italy. The Fresco Institute hosts clinical and research postdoctoral fellows and provides access to outstanding facilities, mentoring, and training. These fellowships support physicians and neuroscientists seeking to address the gaps in our understanding of Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, as well as the treatment and care of affected patients.

Established in 2015 with a $25 million contribution from Marlene and Paolo Fresco, the Fresco Institute is co-led by scientific director Richard Tsien, DPhil, the Druckenmiller Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology. Its mission is to advance the understanding of Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders, with the ultimate goal of developing new approaches to preventing and curing these diseases.

Basic research fellows conduct research that improves our understanding of the physiological, anatomical, and molecular substrates of Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. Our basic research fellowship program allows Italian researchers to engage in postdoctoral work that is relevant to the Fresco Institute’s mission in a state-of-the-art lab with faculty associated with the Neuroscience Institute and the Fresco Institute.

Current Fellows

Our second cohort of Fresco Institute Research Fellows joined us in September 2018. Riccardo Melani, PhD, works with Nicolas Tritsch, PhD, and Guendalina Bastioli, PhD, works with Margaret E. Rice, PhD.

Our first cohort, who first began their tenure in 2016, has successfully finished the fellowship period: Marta Maltese, PhD, and Maria Mancini, PhD, who worked with Dr. Tritsch and Dr. Rice, respectively. Dr. Maltese examined how dopamine modulates striatal projection neurons while Dr. Mancini studied how leptin, a satiety hormone, affects the activity of dopaminergic neurons.