Fabiana Corsi Zuelli

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, working in Professor Rachel Upthegrove’s group within the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (Molecular Targets Theme). My research aims to elucidate immune mechanisms in psychosis, with the ultimate goal of identifying cellular and molecular targets for personalised treatments.

The biological basis of psychosis remains incompletely understood, particularly how immune and cellular mechanisms contribute to its clinical heterogeneity. My work focuses on cellular immunophenotyping of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and on genetic approaches to dissect the immune pathways underlying psychosis, symptom dimensions, and structural brain alterations. By integrating immunogenomic data from clinical and population cohorts, I aim to elucidate how peripheral immune dysregulation influences brain–immune communication and behaviour. I am particularly interested in regulatory immune mechanisms as potential targets for personalised immunomodulatory treatments in psychosis.

Before joining Oxford, I completed my MSc and PhD in Neuroscience (Immunopsychiatry) at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). During my postgraduate training, I led studies linking peripheral inflammation with environmental risk factors in first-episode psychosis within the Brazilian STREAM study, part of the EU-GEI international consortium for schizophrenia. I also undertook research placements at King’s College London and the University of Birmingham, contributing to translational projects in immunopsychiatry, including the Psychosis Immune Mechanisms Stratified Medicine Study (PIMS) led by Professor Upthegrove, where I applied advanced immunophenotyping and in vitro assays to investigate immunomolecular mechanisms in psychosis.