Dr Giovanna Nalesso
Academic and research departments
School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences.About
Biography
Dr Giovanna Nalesso is Associate Professor in Musculoskeletal Biology and Associate Head for Research and Innovation at the University of Surrey’s School of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms driving osteoarthritis, with particular emphasis on the roles of microRNAs, Wnt signalling, calcium/calmodulin kinase II, and biomarkers of ageing in joint tissues. She has developed novel therapeutic approaches, including a patent targeting microRNA modulation for cartilage regeneration.
Dr Nalesso obtained her MRes in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from the University of Padua (Italy) and a PhD in Experimental Medicine and Rheumatology from Queen Mary University of London. Following postdoctoral training, she joined the University of Surrey in 2017, where she has advanced through academic and leadership roles.
She has secured competitive funding from national and international bodies, including the Medical Research Council, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and charitable foundations. Her contributions to the field have been recognised through several awards, such as the British Society for Matrix Biology New Investigator Award and the Osteoarthritis Research Society International New Investigator Award.
Beyond her research, Dr Nalesso plays a leading role in shaping Surrey’s research strategy, postgraduate training, and external partnerships. She regularly reviews for high-impact journals and funding organisations and is an invited speaker at international scientific conferences.
University roles and responsibilities
- Associate Head of School for Research and Innovation, school of Veterinary Medicine
Previous roles
ResearchResearch interests
I lead a research group focussed in understanding the molecular mechanisms associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). OA is a musculoskeletal condition characterised by degeneration of the articular cartilage and abnormal bone remodelling. Despite being a high disabling disease, only symptomatic treatment is currently available to patients until surgical joint replacement is required. The lack of non-invasive therapeutic treatments is linked to the poor understanding of OA pathogenesis and consequently to the lack pro-regenerative pharmacological targets.
Our goal is to better understand OA pathogenesis to drive the development of new drugs to treat OA.
To this end we are working on four different areas:
1) We aim to characterise the role of microRNAs in the modulation of the Wnt signalling in the articular cartilage. The Wnt signalling plays a pivotal role in regenerative processes and it is de-regulated in OA (Nalesso et al, JCB 2011; Nalesso et al., Annals of Rheumatic Diseases 2017). We want to identify the molecular drivers regulating its homeostasis in physiological conditions to re-establish their function in disease. This work is in collaboration with the McCormick's group at Queen Mary University of London and has been funded through a New Investigator Research Grant awarded by the MRC in 2019.
2) We are investigating the role of Calcium Calmodulin Kinase II (CaMKII) in the modulation of lipid metabolism in OA. We have shown that CaMKII inhibition exacerbate OA progression in animal models of OA and this was associated with metabolic changes in the articular cartilage (Nalesso et al., JCB 2011; Nalesso et al. Sci Rep 2021). We aim to define new therapeutic targets by characterising the link between altered cell metabolism and tissue degeneration. Two PhD studentships have been funded under this research topic through funds awarded by the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award, the Longhurst Legacy Fund and the UoS Doctoral College. The projects are in partnership with Dr Fielding at the School of Biosciences (UoS) and Prof Campanella at the RVC.
3) We want to determine key age-associated changes in the extracellular matrix of the articular cartilage to develop new ex-vivo models to study how aging affects signalling in the tissue and modify the response to drugs. This will help in reducing the use of animals in pre-clinical studies and will inform the development of more effective drugs for aged patients, who are the mostly affected by OA. This project is one of five studentships awarded by the Dunhill Medical Trust as part of the Engineering novel in-vitro Model systems to accelERate aGEing research doctoral training programme (EMERGE DTP).
4) We want to investigate whether environmental conditions and exposure to pollutants can affect cartilage health and the development of OA. This will lead to preventative measures aimed to reduce the number of people affected by OA and/or to slow down disease progression. This work is in collaboration with Prof FArsky's laboratory at the University of Sao Paulo.
Research collaborations
University of Surrey:
- Dr Kamalan Jeevaratnam
- Prof Barbara Fielding
- Dr Ioannis Smyrnias
University of Liverpool
- Dr Peter McCormick
University of East Anglia
- Prof Ian Clark
University of Basel
- Prof Andrea Barbero
University of Manchester
- Dr Alex Eckersley
- prof Michael Sherratt
UHN (Canada)
- Prof Mohit Kapoor
Indicators of esteem
2021: New Investigator Award, British Society for Matrix Biology
2019: University of Surrey Researcher of the Year, runner up
2014: New Investigator Award, Osteoarthritis Research Society International
2011-present: reviewer for: Frontiers Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Stem Cells Reports, Scientific reports, Annals of Rheumatic diseases, Arthritis and Rheumatology, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, ECM, Tissue Engineering, Cartilage, PLOS one, Journal of Physiology, Journal of British Pharmacology
Research interests
I lead a research group focussed in understanding the molecular mechanisms associated with the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). OA is a musculoskeletal condition characterised by degeneration of the articular cartilage and abnormal bone remodelling. Despite being a high disabling disease, only symptomatic treatment is currently available to patients until surgical joint replacement is required. The lack of non-invasive therapeutic treatments is linked to the poor understanding of OA pathogenesis and consequently to the lack pro-regenerative pharmacological targets.
Our goal is to better understand OA pathogenesis to drive the development of new drugs to treat OA.
To this end we are working on four different areas:
1) We aim to characterise the role of microRNAs in the modulation of the Wnt signalling in the articular cartilage. The Wnt signalling plays a pivotal role in regenerative processes and it is de-regulated in OA (Nalesso et al, JCB 2011; Nalesso et al., Annals of Rheumatic Diseases 2017). We want to identify the molecular drivers regulating its homeostasis in physiological conditions to re-establish their function in disease. This work is in collaboration with the McCormick's group at Queen Mary University of London and has been funded through a New Investigator Research Grant awarded by the MRC in 2019.
2) We are investigating the role of Calcium Calmodulin Kinase II (CaMKII) in the modulation of lipid metabolism in OA. We have shown that CaMKII inhibition exacerbate OA progression in animal models of OA and this was associated with metabolic changes in the articular cartilage (Nalesso et al., JCB 2011; Nalesso et al. Sci Rep 2021). We aim to define new therapeutic targets by characterising the link between altered cell metabolism and tissue degeneration. Two PhD studentships have been funded under this research topic through funds awarded by the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award, the Longhurst Legacy Fund and the UoS Doctoral College. The projects are in partnership with Dr Fielding at the School of Biosciences (UoS) and Prof Campanella at the RVC.
3) We want to determine key age-associated changes in the extracellular matrix of the articular cartilage to develop new ex-vivo models to study how aging affects signalling in the tissue and modify the response to drugs. This will help in reducing the use of animals in pre-clinical studies and will inform the development of more effective drugs for aged patients, who are the mostly affected by OA. This project is one of five studentships awarded by the Dunhill Medical Trust as part of the Engineering novel in-vitro Model systems to accelERate aGEing research doctoral training programme (EMERGE DTP).
4) We want to investigate whether environmental conditions and exposure to pollutants can affect cartilage health and the development of OA. This will lead to preventative measures aimed to reduce the number of people affected by OA and/or to slow down disease progression. This work is in collaboration with Prof FArsky's laboratory at the University of Sao Paulo.
Research collaborations
University of Surrey:
- Dr Kamalan Jeevaratnam
- Prof Barbara Fielding
- Dr Ioannis Smyrnias
University of Liverpool
- Dr Peter McCormick
University of East Anglia
- Prof Ian Clark
University of Basel
- Prof Andrea Barbero
University of Manchester
- Dr Alex Eckersley
- prof Michael Sherratt
UHN (Canada)
- Prof Mohit Kapoor
Indicators of esteem
2021: New Investigator Award, British Society for Matrix Biology
2019: University of Surrey Researcher of the Year, runner up
2014: New Investigator Award, Osteoarthritis Research Society International
2011-present: reviewer for: Frontiers Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Stem Cells Reports, Scientific reports, Annals of Rheumatic diseases, Arthritis and Rheumatology, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, ECM, Tissue Engineering, Cartilage, PLOS one, Journal of Physiology, Journal of British Pharmacology
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
Mr Nick Day, Role of CaMKII in lipid metabolism in the articular cartilage and OA
Miss Mia Mohammed, Generation of a novel in vitro system to investigate the effect of aging on the articular cartilage
Teaching
Currently teaching Cell and Molecular Biology within the module VMS1003
Publications
Highlights
1: Ringström N, Edling C, Nalesso G, Barallobre-Barreiro J, Jeevaratnam K. Mass
spectrometry reveals age-dependent collagen decline in murine atria. Ann N Y
Acad Sci. 2025 Jun;1548(1):206-217. doi: 10.1111/nyas.15341. Epub 2025 Apr 28.
PMID: 40295212; PMCID: PMC12220293.
2: Lisignoli G, Nalesso G, Barbero A. Editorial: Methodologies to improve the
performance of chondrocytes for cartilage repair and regeneration. Front Bioeng
Biotechnol. 2023 Nov 22;11:1335134. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1335134. PMID:
38076432; PMCID: PMC10698757.
3: Ringström N, Edling C, Nalesso G, Jeevaratnam K. Framing Heartaches: The
Cardiac ECM and the Effects of Age. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 1;24(5):4713. doi:
10.3390/ijms24054713. PMID: 36902143; PMCID: PMC10003270.
4: Heluany CS, De Palma A, Day NJ, Farsky SHP, Nalesso G. Hydroquinone, an
Environmental Pollutant, Affects Cartilage Homeostasis through the Activation of
the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Pathway. Cells. 2023 Feb 22;12(5):690. doi:
10.3390/cells12050690. PMID: 36899825; PMCID: PMC10001213.
5: Gill AK, McCormick PJ, Sochart D, Nalesso G. Wnt signalling in the articular
cartilage: A matter of balance. Int J Exp Pathol. 2023 Apr;104(2):56-63. doi:
10.1111/iep.12472. Epub 2023 Feb 26. PMID: 36843204; PMCID: PMC10009303.
6: Thorup AS, Caxaria S, Thomas BL, Suleman Y, Nalesso G, Luyten FP, Dell'Accio
F, Eldridge SE. In vivo potency assay for the screening of bioactive molecules
on cartilage formation. Lab Anim (NY). 2022 Apr;51(4):103-120. doi:
10.1038/s41684-022-00943-y. Epub 2022 Mar 31. PMID: 35361989.
7: De Palma A, Nalesso G. WNT Signalling in Osteoarthritis and Its
Pharmacological Targeting. Handb Exp Pharmacol. 2021;269:337-356. doi:
10.1007/164_2021_525. PMID: 34510305.
8: Heluany CS, Donate PB, Schneider AH, Fabris AL, Gomes RA, Villas-Boas IM,
Tambourgi DV, Silva TAD, Trossini GHG, Nalesso G, Silveira ELV, Cunha FQ, Farsky
SHP. Hydroquinone Exposure Worsens Rheumatoid Arthritis through the Activation
of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor and Interleukin-17 Pathways. Antioxidants
(Basel). 2021 Jun 7;10(6):929. doi: 10.3390/antiox10060929. PMID: 34200499;
PMCID: PMC8229175.
9: Thomas BL, Eldridge SE, Nosrati B, Alvarez M, Thorup AS, Nalesso G, Caxaria
S, Barawi A, Nicholson JG, Perretti M, Gaston-Massuet C, Pitzalis C, Maloney A,
Moore A, Jupp R, Dell'Accio F. WNT3A-loaded exosomes enable cartilage repair. J
Extracell Vesicles. 2021 May;10(7):e12088. doi: 10.1002/jev2.12088. Epub 2021
May 19. PMID: 34025953; PMCID: PMC8134720.
10: Nalesso G, Thorup AS, Eldridge SE, De Palma A, Kaur A, Peddireddi K, Blighe
K, Rana S, Stott B, Vincent TL, Thomas BL, Bertrand J, Sherwood J, Fioravanti A,
Pitzalis C, Dell'Accio F. Calcium calmodulin kinase II activity is required for
cartilage homeostasis in osteoarthritis. Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 11;11(1):5682. doi:
10.1038/s41598-021-82067-w. PMID: 33707504; PMCID: PMC7952598.
11: Thorup AS, Strachan D, Caxaria S, Poulet B, Thomas BL, Eldridge SE, Nalesso
G, Whiteford JR, Pitzalis C, Aigner T, Corder R, Bertrand J, Dell'Accio F. ROR2
blockade as a therapy for osteoarthritis. Sci Transl Med. 2020 Sep
16;12(561):eaax3063. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aax3063. PMID: 32938794.
12: Budd E, Nalesso G, Mobasheri A. Extracellular genomic biomarkers of
osteoarthritis. Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2018 Jan;18(1):55-74. doi:
10.1080/14737159.2018.1415757. Epub 2017 Dec 15. PMID: 29235389.
13: Rahmati M, Nalesso G, Mobasheri A, Mozafari M. Aging and osteoarthritis:
Central role of the extracellular matrix. Ageing Res Rev. 2017 Nov;40:20-30.
doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2017.07.004. Epub 2017 Jul 31. PMID: 28774716.
14: Nalesso G, Thomas BL, Sherwood JC, Yu J, Addimanda O, Eldridge SE, Thorup
AS, Dale L, Schett G, Zwerina J, Eltawil N, Pitzalis C, Dell'Accio F. WNT16
antagonises excessive canonical WNT activation and protects cartilage in
osteoarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017 Jan;76(1):218-226. doi:
10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-208577. Epub 2016 May 4. PMID: 27147711; PMCID:
PMC5264226.
15: Eldridge S, Nalesso G, Ismail H, Vicente-Greco K, Kabouridis P, Ramachandran
M, Niemeier A, Herz J, Pitzalis C, Perretti M, Dell'Accio F. Agrin mediates
chondrocyte homeostasis and requires both LRP4 and α-dystroglycan to enhance
cartilage formation in vitro and in vivo. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016 Jun;75(6):1228-35.
doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-207316. Epub 2015 Aug 19. PMID: 26290588; PMCID:
PMC4760904.
16: Slack RJ, Russell LJ, Barton NP, Weston C, Nalesso G, Thompson SA, Allen M,
Chen YH, Barnes A, Hodgson ST, Hall DA. Antagonism of human CC-chemokine
receptor 4 can be achieved through three distinct binding sites on the receptor.
Pharmacol Res Perspect. 2013 Dec;1(2):e00019. doi: 10.1002/prp2.19. Epub 2013
Dec 30. PMID: 25505571; PMCID: PMC4186434.
17: Sherwood J, Bertrand J, Nalesso G, Poulet B, Pitsillides A, Brandolini L,
Karystinou A, De Bari C, Luyten FP, Pitzalis C, Pap T, Dell'Accio F. A
homeostatic function of CXCR2 signalling in articular cartilage. Ann Rheum Dis.
2015 Dec;74(12):2207-15. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-205546. Epub 2014 Aug 18.
PMID: 25135253; PMCID: PMC4680121.
18: Greco KV, Nalesso G, Kaneva MK, Sherwood J, Iqbal AJ, Moradi-Bidhendi N,
Dell'Accio F, Perretti M. Analyses on the mechanisms that underlie the
chondroprotective properties of calcitonin. Biochem Pharmacol. 2014 Oct
1;91(3):348-58. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2014.07.034. Epub 2014 Aug 10. PMID:
25117448.
19: Heywood HK, Nalesso G, Lee DA, Dell'accio F. Culture expansion in low-
glucose conditions preserves chondrocyte differentiation and enhances their
subsequent capacity to form cartilage tissue in three-dimensional culture.
Biores Open Access. 2014 Feb 1;3(1):9-18. doi: 10.1089/biores.2013.0051. PMID:
24570841; PMCID: PMC3929268.
20: Bertrand J, Stange R, Hidding H, Echtermeyer F, Nalesso G, Godmann L, Timmen
M, Bruckner P, Dell'Accio F, Raschke MJ, Pap T, Dreier R. Syndecan 4 supports
bone fracture repair, but not fetal skeletal development, in mice. Arthritis
Rheum. 2013 Mar;65(3):743-52. doi: 10.1002/art.37817. PMID: 23233348.
21: Bertrand J, Nitschke Y, Fuerst M, Hermann S, Schäfers M, Sherwood J, Nalesso
G, Ruether W, Rutsch F, Dell'Accio F, Pap T. Decreased levels of nucleotide
pyrophosphatase phosphodiesterase 1 are associated with cartilage calcification
in osteoarthritis and trigger osteoarthritic changes in mice. Ann Rheum Dis.
2012 Jul;71(7):1249-53. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-200892. Epub 2012 Apr 17.
PMID: 22510396.
22: Greco KV, Iqbal AJ, Rattazzi L, Nalesso G, Moradi-Bidhendi N, Moore AR,
Goldring MB, Dell'Accio F, Perretti M. High density micromass cultures of a
human chondrocyte cell line: a reliable assay system to reveal the modulatory
functions of pharmacological agents. Biochem Pharmacol. 2011 Dec
15;82(12):1919-29. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2011.09.009. Epub 2011 Sep 16. PMID:
21946086; PMCID: PMC3947852.
23: Nalesso G, Sherwood J, Bertrand J, Pap T, Ramachandran M, De Bari C,
Pitzalis C, Dell'accio F. WNT-3A modulates articular chondrocyte phenotype by
activating both canonical and noncanonical pathways. J Cell Biol. 2011 May
2;193(3):551-64. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201011051. PMID: 21536751; PMCID: PMC3087013.
24: Brunati AM, Tibaldi E, Carraro A, Gringeri E, D'Amico F Jr, Toninello A,
Massimino ML, Pagano MA, Nalesso G, Cillo U. Cross-talk between PDGF and S1P
signalling elucidates the inhibitory effect and potential antifibrotic action of
the immunomodulator FTY720 in activated HSC-cultures. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2008
Mar;1783(3):347-59. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2007.11.008. Epub 2007 Nov 29. PMID:
18157950.
Preprints:
microRNA-544a as a new modulator of the Wnt-signalling network in the articular cartilage and osteoarthritis Cintia Scucuglia Heluany, Nicholas J Day, Keemo Delos Santos, Anna De Palma, Tracey E Swingler, David Sochart, Ian M Clark, Mohit Kapoor, Giovanna Nalesso bioRxiv 2024.11.28.625937; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.28.625937
CaMKII induces an autophagy-dependent anabolic response in Articular Chondrocytes Nicholas James Day, Angshumi Dutta, Cintia Scucuglia Heluany, Vipin Asopa, David Sochart, Barbara Fielding, Giovanna Nalesso bioRxiv 2024.08.04.606243; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.04.606243