Monica Deiana is associate professor (MED 04; 06/A2) at the University of Cagliari. She carries out her teaching activity in the Faculty of Biology and Pharmacy and in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery for the postgraduate students of Food and Nutrition Sciences and for the students of the degrees in Biotechnology and Bomedical Laboratory Techniques. She has a PhD in Experimental and Molecular Pathology (University of Turin). She carried out some research projects at the International Antioxidants and Neurodegenerative Disease Research Centre, Pharmacology Group, King's College, London, and at the National Heart & Lung Institute, British Postgraduate Medical Federation, University of London. She is the scientific coordinator of the Unit of Experimental Pathology. In 2006 and 2011/2012 she was a member of the teaching staff committee of the Toxicology PhD program and since 2013 of the Molecular Medicine (Molecular and Translational Medicine) PhD program.

Prof. Deiana scientific activity focuses mainly on oxidative stress and related diseases, and the modulating activity of antioxidant compounds. The protective role of antioxidants and their metabolites is investigated as capacity of acting as direct antioxidants and to modulate cellular redox status, through the interaction with intracellular signaling cascades involved in the cellular response to oxidative injury and in the initial steps of the inflammation process. Prof. Deiana's group has evaluated the biopotency of dietary antioxidant compounds found in typical products of the Mediterranean-style diet and their metabolites, using various experimental models, from the simplest in vitro systems to the more complex studies on cell culture and in vivo models. It has a particular expertise in the analyses of the primary and secondary products of the lipid peroxidation process in relation to their toxic effects, and on the modulation of cellular antioxidant enzymes and molecules.

Prof. Deiana cooperates with public research institutes and national and international research groups, with whom she has carried out various projects in the biomedical and agri-food sectors. Prof. Deiana’s research activity has been reported in numerous scientific publications in peer-reviewed international journals, in conference proceedings, scientific annals and book chapters.