Paola Vergani
Professor
Paola Vergani graduated from the University of Pavia and obtained a PhD from the University of Milan. After a postdoctoral period focusing on yeast K+ channels, she moved to the Rockefeller University in David Gadsby’s lab, where she began studying the CFTR protein. Her work there, stubbornly recording single-channel CFTR currents from countless mutants, eventually lead to proposal of a new molecular mechanism to explain CFTR gating. This is still used as a framework to interpret CFTR functional data today. In 2006 she joined the then UCL Pharmacology Department. There her lab developed high-content fluorescence screening assays which enabled collaborations with industry and studies on the mechanism of action of CFTR-targeting small molecules. At UCL, Paola contributes extensively to pharmacology teaching. She is a Natural Sciences programme lead, supporting students who pair mathematics/statistics or organic chemistry with biomedical sciences. In her lab, in lectures, tutorials and outreach activities, she helps young people interested in life sciences develop their quantitative skills, and young mathematicians and chemists discover pharmacology.
