Rate My Professor Emanuela Pasciuto

Emanuela Pasciuto serves as an associate professor and research leader at the Center for Molecular Neurology within the VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology, University of Antwerp. She obtained her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from KU Leuven in 2014, supervised by Professor Claudia Bagni, with a thesis entitled 'Cellular and molecular impairments in Fragile X Syndrome: insights from mouse models.' After completing her doctorate, she pursued postdoctoral research at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research. In 2023, she launched her independent Neuroimmunology laboratory at the VIB-UAntwerp Center and was appointed associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences. Her academic career reflects a commitment to bridging immunology and neuroscience.

The Pasciuto lab investigates neuro-immune interactions, focusing on the role of T lymphocytes—including regulatory T cells—in brain plasticity, neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Fragile X syndrome, ADNP-related autism, and Helsmoortel-Van der Aa syndrome. Current projects encompass the ENRICH T-BRAIN initiative on experience-induced brain plasticity via brain-resident T cells, characterization of gastrointestinal infection impacts on ADNP syndromic autism through the gut-brain axis and inflammasome signaling, regulatory T cell immunotherapy using gene therapy in Helsmoortel-Van der Aa models, spectral flow cytometry platforms for microglia dynamics, and immune landscapes in vulnerable Alzheimer's brains. She has secured major funding, including an ERC Starting Grant, BrightFocus Foundation scientific investigator award, Acteria Early Career Research Prize in Immunology, and the 2026 Young Researcher Award (50,000 euros) from the Foundation for Alzheimer's Research. Notable publications include 'Microglia Require CD4 T Cells to Complete the Fetal-to-Adult Transition' (Cell, 2020), 'The Alzheimer's therapeutic Lecanemab attenuates Aβ pathology by inducing an amyloid-clearing program in microglia' (Nature Neuroscience, 2025), 'T cells fast-track gut signals to the brain' (Nature Neuroscience, 2025), and 'A systems immunology analysis of Alzheimer's disease vulnerability' (Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2025). Her contributions advance therapeutic strategies like brain-specific T cell depletion via nanobodies and immunomodulation. Pasciuto also holds an advisory role on the Education Committee for Biochemistry & Biotechnology in Biomedical Sciences.