Dr. Simona Porru

Dr Simona Porru graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy). She holds a PhD in Life, Environmental and Drug Science at the University of Cagliari and a PhD in Psychology at the University Jaume I of Castellón de la Plana (Spain). She studied the mechanisms of action of drugs and their role on the brain areas related to motivated behaviors. She is an expert in immunohistochemistry, molecular biology and behavioral paradigms.  Collaborated in the collection and biochemical analysis (using qRT-PCR technique) of samples to analyse genetic traces of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols collected from indoors and outdoors environments in Castellón. Thanks to the Postdoctoral Fellowship Margarita Salas, she studied the effects of prenatal and postnatal environmental exposure on neurodevelopment and evaluated the mediating effects of the microbiota and systemic inflammation. In 2024, she received the Award for the best communications presented by people attending the annual meeting of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology for the first time for her work entitled “Prenatal exposure to metals and working memory in children and adolescents of the INMA Project”