Associate Professor
Strategic program(s):
Biography
Dr. Stillitano is a Biomedical Scientist with extensive expertise in cellular and molecular biology, stem cell research, genome editing, and gene therapy, with a focus on uncovering molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular diseases. She earned her PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Florence, Italy, in 2004. Her research provided critical insights into cardiac electrical remodeling by studying molecular changes in cardiac-specific ion channels regulating heart rhythm in healthy and diseased states. In 2010, Dr. Stillitano joined the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, where she established a patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cell program to model cardiovascular diseases. She also developed the first knock-in humanized mouse model of cardiomyopathy caused by the R14del mutation in the PLN protein. Her work integrated advanced gene-editing tools, such as TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9, delivered via adeno-associated viruses (AAVs). Her achievements earned her prestigious grants, including the American Heart Association’s “Scientist Development Grant” and “Transformational Project Award”. She was also honored with the KL2 Scholars Award for Clinical and Translational Research Career Development from the NIH, highlighting her potential as a promising junior faculty member. In recognition of her work, she was promoted to Instructor of Medicine in 2017 and Assistant Professor of Medicine in Cardiology in 2019. In 2022, Dr. Stillitano joined UMC Utrecht as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Experimental Cardiology, leading a research lab focused on modeling inherited cardiac diseases using iPSCs, animal models, and gene-editing approaches to identify and validate therapeutic targets. Dr. Stillitano is an active nucleus member of the European Society of Cardiology working groups on Cellular Biology of the Heart and Cardiovascular Regenerative & Reparative Medicine. She serves in editorial roles for prominent journals, has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers, and contributes to multiple research grants, including collaborations with private companies. Her future work will integrate cutting-edge technologies to uncover disease mechanisms and develop innovative therapies for cardiovascular diseases.
