Raffaella Sorrentino

Raffaella Sorrentino was born in Salerno, Italy on July 25, 1965, and received the master’s degree (1988) in Pharmacy, the Specialization in Pharmacology (1990) followed by the Ph.D. in Pharmacology (1994) at the University of Naples Federico II. She was visiting researcher for one year at the William Harvey Research Institute (London), headed by Prof. Sir John Vane; Supervisor Prof Timothy Warner. She is tenure of courses in the field of Toxicology and Pharmacology at the Department of Pharmacy, she is a board member of the PhD course in Nutraceuticals Functional Foods and Human Health. Along with her academic activity, she has supervised about 100 undergraduate students and six PhD students. Many students from her group and are employed in academia and the pharmaceutical industry. She is Coordinator of a Degree (Master) in “Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry” and Director of a II level post-degree Master in “Drug development and surveillance post-marketing” at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples FEDERICO II, Italy.
Her research was/is funded mainly by Italian Government and by “Fondazione Fibrosi Cistica”. Her research is mainly focused on gaseoustransmitters with regard in nitric oxide (NO) and more recently on hydrogen sulfide (H2S) either in the cardiovascular or in the urogenital tract in physiological and pathological conditions. The research is focused on the evaluation of vascular reactivity in pathological conditions with regard in the endothelial function (LPS-induced septic shock, hypertension). Concerning the urogenital tract, she has addressed the physiological mechanisms involved in the urogenital homeostasis. These studies have led to define the role of beta3 receptor, sphingosine pathway, dopamine and H2S in human corpus cavernosum and in bladder and in uterus functionality. Since 2007 she is involved in several projects supported by "Fondazione Fibrosi Cistica" aiming to evaluate in vitro and in vivo efficacy of novel dry powders developed to obtain a sustained release of drugs with anti-inflammatory and /or antibacterial activity. Other research projects concern drug repositioning, characterization of newly synthetized drugs or derived from vegetal kingdom as anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive or antibacterial remedies. The research work has generated 86 full papers published on peer reviewed Journals such as Circulation, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Nature, Br J Pharmacol, Pharmacol Res, Artheroscler Thromb Vasc Biol. and over 100 presentations at national and international conferences. She received the “UPJOHN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Excellence in Pharmacology” and several awards for scientific publications. She was/is Editor for The Open Pharmacology Journal, Scientific World Journal and Editor of Special Issue for some journals such as Antioxidants Journal. She is also editor of chapters in several books as: Manuale di Farmacoterapia IDELSON-GNOCCHI, Trattato di Farmacologia, Minerva Medica, Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology of Hydrogen Sulfide, Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. She is referee ad hoc for several Journals such as Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, Toxicology, British Journal of Pharmacology, Life Science, European Journal of Pharmacology, Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, American Journal of Respiratory Cell Biology, Faseb, Antioxidants.