Paola Panina-Bordignon is Associate Professor of Applied Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan (I). She graduated in Biology at the University of Parma in 1983, received a post-graduate Specialization from the University of Parma in 1987, and a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Brescia in 1993.

As a Member of the Basel Institute for Immunology (CH) in 1988-1991 she significantly contributed to the unveiling of the molecular mechanisms of antigen processing and presentation. After one year as visiting scientist at CNRS-LGME INSERM-U184, Strasbourg (F), she joined Roche Milano Ricerche as Senior Scientist and characterized the T cell responses in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

In 2002 she co-founded Bioxell SpA, a biopharmaceutical company (listed at the Swiss stock exchange). As Director of Preclinical Research she coordinated discovery and target validation studies of novel therapeutic agents for multiple sclerosis and lung inflammation.

Between 2010-2018, as Senior Scientist in the Division of Genetics and Cell Biology (San Raffaele Scientific Institute) she identified novel therapeutic targets (autophagy and cannabinoid system) for inflammatory diseases of the female reproductive tract and characterized the mechanisms of stress responses in professional secretory endometrial cells.

In 2019, she joined the Unit of Neuroimmunology, where she currently coordinates an international network that develops bioinformatics and cell reprogramming tools to discover new drugs for progressive multiple sclerosis. She also supervises research projects aimed at dissecting the neurogenic function of iPSC-derived neural progenitor cells (NPC), and their constitutive/inducible neuroprotective and promyelinating role to prevent inflammatory excitotoxic damage. The therapeutic efficacy of NPC transplantation is validated in several neurodegenerative animal models.