Ilaria Belluomo

Ilaria Belluomo is a Research Fellow at the Department of Surgery & Cancer in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, part of the Hanna Group led by Professor George Hanna. She is an Emerging Leader Fellow of the Epilepsy Research Institute UK. Her research focuses on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of neurological disorders, including epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. She leads two clinical trials: the VIBES study for epilepsy diagnosis/prediction and the PANORAMA study for Parkinson's disease diagnostics. Her expertise includes advanced mass spectrometry techniques (GC-MS, LC-MS, SIFT-MS, PTR-MS) and thermal desorption methods.

Education: PhD (European PhD program, University of Bologna & Neurocentre Magendie, INSERM, Bordeaux), MSc in Medical Biotechnology (University of Bologna), BSc in Medical Biotechnology (University of Naples Federico II).

Research interests span neurosciences, analytical chemistry, and clinical applications of VOC analysis. She is committed to advancing standardization of analytical methods for breath biomarkers. Beyond research, she co-founded the Academic Women Association (AWA) at Imperial College in 2022 to support women’s career progression in academia.

Her work has contributed to understanding endocannabinoid systems, metabolic profiling, and the role of VOCs in diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and neurological conditions. She actively participates in the Surgery & Cancer Department’s Culture and Engagement Committee since 2019.