Cristina Alberini, Professor in the Center for Neural Science, New York University, has been studying the biological mechanisms of long-term memory for the last 20 years. Her studies explore the biological mechanisms of memory consolidation and reconsolidation, the processes by which newly learned information become long-lasting memories, and how memories are modulated and integrated into complex behavioral manifestations. Her studies also aim at utilizing the basic understandings of the mechanisms of memory formation to enhance memories and prevent forgetting, or disrupt pathogenic memories. Both approaches have important translational applications.
She graduated from the University of Pavia in Italy with Honors and obtained a Doctorate in Research in Immunological Sciences from the University of Genoa in Italy. She trained as a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University, studying the role of gene expression regulation during long-term synaptic plasticity consolidation in Aplysia californica. From 1997 to 2000, she served on the Faculty of Brown University before joining Mount Sinai in 2001 where she worked until 2011. In 2011 she joined the Center for Neural Science at NYU. She has received several awards including Hirschl-Weill Career Scientist Award, NARSAD Independent Investigator Award, McKnight Memory and Cognitive Disorder Award, Mount Sinai Dean’s Award for Excellence in Basic Science Research, Paul Harris Fellow -Rotary Club Cremona and NIMH-MERIT award.
Since 2004 she has been a member of the Council of the Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (MCCS); she served as the society’s Treasurer from 2006 to 2009 and then as President from 2009 to 2012.