Dr. Valentino graduated in Neurophysiology in 2001 through a scholarship awarded by the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research, Cologne, Germany following a three-month training period as Research Guest Fellow. The research involved the multimodal investigation of the haemodynamic and cellular mechanisms of ischemic brain damage in an animal model of stroke. Thereafter, he was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurology, Washington University, St.Louis, MO and the Hope Centre For Neurological Disorders, USA, focusing his studies on white matter injury. Since 2013, he is an associate professor at the University of Malta and the principal investigator for the Laboratory for the Study of Neurological Disorders. He has published extensively in high impact journals and book chapters and is a recognized international leader in stroke research. He serves as a review editor to various boards including Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, Abstract reviewer to the International Stroke Conference since 2015 and Scientific advisor to the Foundation to Fight H-ABC, a rare neurological disorder that effects children and adsultys.

Dr. Mario Valentino research focuses on the study of mechanisms of injury and recovery after stroke with special emphasis towards the study of white matter through the use of high resolution optical imaging techniques combined with electrophysiology in vivo. Although not all work in the lab involves investigation of white matter, the focus of his research is exploration of the role of intercellular signaling mechanisms involved in cell death and on molecular mechanisms of neural repair that might provide for new therapies to promote recovery in stroke. Another major theme in his lab is in vivo neuroimaging, in particular to understand the relationship between blood flow changes in the brain and the underlying neuronal activity. He is also the coordinator of the BioMedical Neuroimaging Core Facility. The Facility forms part of the Olympus Network of Excellence and we regularly host researchers from other universities for collaborative studies, particular training, exchange of knowledge and protocol experimental design and testing.