Lucia Ciranna

Lucia Ciranna is an associate professor of physiology in the Department of Biomedicine and Biotechnology at the University of Catania, Italy. She completed PhD in neuroscience (1995) at the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France, under the supervision of Professor Paul Feltz and Dr. Rémy Schlichter.

In the period 1994-2006, she was a researcher at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Catania, working on the effects of serotonin and noradrenaline on the firing activity of neurons, the interaction between Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and noradrenaline (NA) in the control of neuronal activity in the red nucleus, and the effects of the neuropeptides Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) on glutamate-mediated synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. As of 2006, she moved to her present position at the University of Catania. Her research focuses on the effects of serotonin on glutamate-mediated synaptic transmission and on long-term synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, among others.

During her stay in Strasbourg, Professor Ciranna will be hosted by Dr. Sylvain Hugel (2021 Fellow) and Dr. Michel Barrot (2023 Fellow) at the Institute of Cellular and Integrative Neuroscience (INCI).