Doctor Ornella Manfra

Dr. Ornella Manfra is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Experimental Medical Research at Oslo University Hospital in Norway. Originally from Italy, she earned her Doctoral degree in Pharmacology from the University of Oslo. In 2016, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Bill Louch, where her research primarily focuses on characterizing the structure and function of cardiac muscle cells in health and disease, by employing a combination of confocal and super-resolution microscopy techniques. After completing her first postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Manfra moved to the United States as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) fellow in Dr. Kent Thornburg's lab at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR. During her time there, she studied the structure of cardiomyocytes during development. In 2021, Dr. Manfra returned to Oslo University Hospital, where she is currently engaged in a newly funded project aimed at understanding both normal and pathological pregnancy. Her work seeks to imp