Fernanda Ricci

Dr. Fernanda Ricci is Head of Advanced Cellular Assays at Axxam, an innovative CRO supporting the drug discovery journey. With over 15 years of experience in cell-based assays and phenotypic screening, she leads a multidisciplinary team specializing in high-content screening (HCS), iPSC-derived systems, and 3D cellular models. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biophysics from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where she began her research in live-cell imaging and biosensors—such as ClopHensor—for real-time measurement of intracellular pH and chloride. Her postdoctoral work at the Italian Institute of Technology focused on high-content screening applied to functional genomics. Dr. Ricci’s current efforts focus on integrating omics technologies, high-dimensional data, and non-animal models to improve translational relevance in early drug discovery. She has authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed publications and holds two international patents and one national patent (WO2013001451, EP2045