Developed skills and lines of research

Roberto Loi is a tenured researcher in General Pathology and teaches at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Cagliari. He earned his Ph.D. in Cagliari before spending five years at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda (Washington, DC) and three years at the University of Vermont, where he began working on the use of stem cells as a potential treatment for cystic fibrosis. His CF project strategy involves the administration of stem cells taken from the same patient, appropriately treated in vitro and reprogrammed, which could repair damage to the lung epithelium. His studies, funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation (FFC Ricerca), aim to exploit recent advances in knowledge about induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), which allow for the generation of patient-specific stem cells that could be useful in cell therapy approaches.

Projects funded by FFC Ricerca as Principal Investigator or as Research Manager

FFC#2/2013
An induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS)-based approach for the repopulation and phenotypic correction of cystic fibrosis airway epithelium

FFC#3/2010
An induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS)-based approach for the repopulation and phenotypic correction of cystic fibrosis airway epithelium

FFC#5/2006
Mechanisms of recruitment of adult bone marrow-derived cells to normal and cystic fibrosis airway epithelium

Publications from FFC Research projects

Eisenhauer P, Earle B, Loi R, et al. Endogenous distal airway progenitor cells, lung mechanism, and disproportionate lobar growth following long-therm postpneumonectomy in mice. Stem Cells, 2013.