Cristina Alberini, Professor at the Center for Neural Science, New York University and Adjunct Professor at the Departments of Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Structural and Chemical Biology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, has been investigating the biological mechanisms of long-term memory for more than 20 years. Her studies explore the molecular mechanisms of long-term memory formation and of retrieval-dependent changes in memory storage. This knowledge is also utilized to identify approaches that can either enhance or disrupt memories. Her results provide information for developing potential therapeutics against cognitive impairments, such as those occurring in aging or developmental disorders, as well as psychopathologies like those associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Cristina Alberini graduated in Biological Sciences with Honors at the University of Pavia, Italy, and obtained a Doctorate in Research in Immunological Sciences from the University of Genoa, Italy. She then trained in neurobiology as a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University with Eric Kandel studying the role of gene expression regulation during long-term synaptic plasticity consolidation in Aplysia californica. From 1997 to 2000, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University, Providence, RI, and then joined the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York in 2001 where she worked until 2011. In 2011 she moved to the Center for Neural Science at New York University where she is currently Professor in Neuroscience. She received a Hirschl-Weill Career Scientist Award, the NARSAD Independent Investigator Award, the Golgi Medal, the Athena Award and a MERIT award. She has been a member of the Council of the Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society (MCCS) as the society’s Treasurer from 2007 to 2009, and the elected Present from 2009 to 2012. She was also the 2018 Jacob K. Javits Visiting Professor at New York University.