Position Title
Associate Professor
- Molecular Biosciences
Dr. Alessandro Venosa is a pulmonary immunotoxicologist whose research investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. His work integrates spatial transcriptomics, immunophenotyping, and environmental exposure modeling to elucidate how epithelial stress and immune cell heterogeneity contribute to lung disease pathogenesis.
Dr. Venosa received his Pharm.D. from the Università degli Studi di Urbino and his Ph.D. in Toxicology from Rutgers University. He completed postdoctoral training at Rutgers and the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on macrophage biology and epithelial-immune crosstalk in chemically induced lung injury. Prior to joining UC Davis, he served as Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, where he led NIH-funded studies on surfactant protein-C mutations and ozone exposure in fibrotic lung disease.
His research program has yielded over 30 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Journal of Clinical Investigation, Toxicological Sciences, Frontiers in Immunology, and American Journal of Physiology – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology. He served as a Volume Editor and Author for the respiratory toxicology section of the Fourth Edition of Comprehensive Toxicology (Elsevier). Dr. Venosa has been heavily involved in the Society of Toxicology where he currently serves as an officer for the Mountain West Regional Chapter (President) and the Immunotoxicology Specialty Section (past President).
His lab employs high-throughput transcriptomic technologies and in vivo models to dissect immune cell dynamics and epithelial signaling at the intersection of environmental exposure and genetic susceptibility.
Research Interests:
Lung cell biology, Immune cell activation, Monocytes/Macrophages, Inflammation, (Pulmonary) Fibrosis, Environmental exposure, Ozone, Genetic susceptibility, Aging, Flow cytometry, Single Cell Sequencing, Immunohistochemistry, In Situ Hybridization, Spatial Transcriptomics
PubMed listing: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/alessandro.venosa.2/bibliography/public/
Google Scholar: Alessandro Venosa - Google Scholar
- Postdoctoral Researcher (2016-2019), Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
- Postdoctoral Associate (2015-2016), Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Rutgers University School of Pharmacy, Piscataway, NJ
- Ph.D. (2010-2015), Toxicology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
- Pharm. D., (2004-2009), Chimica e Tecnologia Farmaceutica, Universita’ degli Studi di Urbino, Italy