Valentina Greco is an Italian-born biologist who teaches at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

as the Carolyn Walch Slayman Professor of Genetics and is an Associate Professor in the Cell Biology and Dermatology departments. Her research focuses on the role of skin stem cells in tissue regeneration.

Personal life

Valentino Greco was born in Palermo, Italy, where she lived through her undergraduate program. After being denied admission to the graduate school at the University of Palermo, she was encouraged by her friend Eugenia Piddini to apply to the graduate program at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Upon completion of her PhD, Greco moved to the United States and completed her postdoctoral work. She eventually decided to start her own lab, using a high-risk/high-reward approach alongside another Yale principal investigator, Ann Haberman. Greco is married to fellow Yale faculty member Antonio J. Giraldez, and they have two children, Lola and Gael.

Education

Greco received her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Palermo, Italy. In the final two years of her undergraduate program, Greco studied tumor suppressor genes in mitotic cell division in the lab of Aldo di Leonardo. Greco then began graduate school in 1998 and received her PhD in 2002 from the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics __NOTOC__ The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) is a biology research institute located in Dresden, Germany. It was founded in 1998 and was fully operational in 2001. Research groups in the institute work in m ...

(EMBL/MPI-CBG) in Heidelberg, Germany working with advisor Suzanne Eaton on tissue growth mechanisms. She did her postdoctoral studies at Rockefeller University with

Elaine Fuchs Elaine V. Fuchs is an American cell biologist known for her work on the biology and molecular mechanisms of mammalian skin and skin diseases, who helped lead the modernization of dermatology. Fuchs pioneered reverse genetics approaches, whic ...

studying the mechanisms for stem cell activation during hair regeneration.

Research

The Greco lab currently studies stem cells in organ regeneration, with the goal of determining how cells are maintained despite mutation, cellular turnover, and injury. Greco focuses on the mammalian

hair follicle The hair follicle is an organ found in mammalian skin. It resides in the dermal layer of the skin and is made up of 20 different cell types, each with distinct functions. The hair follicle regulates hair growth via a complex interaction betwee ...

in mice to study cellular homeostasis, wound repair, and cancer. Her lab uses techniques such as in vivo imaging to track individual stem cells over time and understand how these cells act during homeostasis and respond to tissue injury. Her lab has worked extensively on the importance of the spatial organization of stem cell niches and shown that these stem cells coordinate their differentiation and migration and can clear away dead cells and tumor-like growths, repairing significant faults in tissue structure. Greco's research has led to notable discoveries in cell regeneration, namely the mechanism of hair and skin regeneration. Her findings show that hair germ cells are obtained from bulge stem cells, as well as suggest that hair germ cells initiate hair regeneration and stem cells drive the process. In more recent work, the Greco Lab uses stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy to gain three-dimensional images of cellular structures, and have been using this imaging to examine the brains of mice. In her work with hair follicles and homeostasis, Greco has also determined a link between the lymphatic vessels of the skin and hair follicle development and organization. The ongoing work of the Greco lab is looking to determine how skin reacts to mutations and the contribution of different tissue types to homeostasis.

Awards and honors

* ISSCR Momentum Award (2021) * William Montagna Lectureship at the Society of Investigative Dermatology (SID) annual conference (2020) *Yale Postdoctoral Mentoring Award (2019) *National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award (2019) *Yale Mentoring Award in the Natural Sciences (2018) * Class of ‘61 Award, Yale Cancer Center (2017) * HHMI Faculty Scholar Award (2017) *Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging (2017) * Early Career Award, ASCB (2016) * Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation Scholar (2015) *Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Award, New York Stem Cell Foundation (2015) *Outstanding Young Investigator Award, ISSCR (2014) * Dermatology Foundation Career Development Award (2012) * American Skin Association Award (2011)

References

External links

Greco lab
*https://www.ascb.org/careers/cell-biologists-work-valentina-greco-cultivating-passionate-research-team/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Greco, Valentina Living people 21st-century Italian women scientists Italian expatriates in Germany Italian expatriates in the United States Italian women biologists Scientists from Palermo University of Palermo alumni Yale University faculty Year of birth missing (living people)