Michela (Micky) Marinelli graduated in 1991 from the University of Rome (Italy), where she obtained a degree in Pharmacy (magna cum laudae). In 1997 she obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Neuroscience (magna cum laudae) at the University of Bordeaux 2 (France). After a post-doctoral training in the United States, she was hired as an Assistant Professor by the French INSERM (the French equivalent to the American NIH). Three years later, in 2003, she was recruited by the Dept. of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology, at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science, in North Chicago, where she currently works.