Lucia Poggi

Lucia Poggi is an Associate Professor at the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, Italy. Her academic career includes roles as an Independent Research Group Leader (2009–2017) and Junior Professor (W1 level) at the University of Heidelberg, where she also contributed to ophthalmology and biosciences. She holds a PhD in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of Pisa (2002) and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge under William A. Harris.

Her research focuses on neurovascular interactions in the retina, leveraging zebrafish models to explore cell lineage relationships and genetic signatures. Key interests include retinal ganglion cell development, asymmetric cell division mechanisms, and reprogramming strategies for neurodegenerative diseases. She pioneered studies on Anillin's role in retinal progenitor self-renewal and has developed imaging techniques for tracking retinal cell lineages in vivo.

Dr. Poggi is actively engaged in scientific leadership: she organized the 2013 EMBO Imaging Course and serves on committees for Italian and European zebrafish research networks. Her work has been supported by grants from the DFG, EMBO, and the University of Heidelberg, including a 2010 DFG grant for neurogenesis studies.

Her lab integrates genetic, molecular, and imaging approaches to address translational challenges in ophthalmology and neuroscience, with recent emphasis on drug screening platforms for retinal vascular disorders. She collaborates internationally, presenting at conferences such as the Royal Society’s Mechanisms of Asymmetric Cell Division meeting (2016).