After completing her undergraduate studies in Biotechnology at the University of Turin (Italy), Michela Zuccolo entered the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris), where she graduated in Cell Biology. Michela then started her PhD in Valérie Doye's lab, at the Institut Curie (Paris).

The main focus of Michela's research is a group of proteins (the Nup107-160 complex) with dual functions and localizations throughout the cell cycle. This complex is associated with nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) in interphase and with kinetochores in mitosis. NPCs form large channels spanning the nuclear envelope (NE) thus allowing bidirectional trafficking of molecules back and forth between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. In metazoans, the nuclear envelope disassembles in prophase so that condensed chromosomes can capture microtubules of the mitotic spindle via interactions with specialized structures, the kinetochores.

Michela showed that kinetochore-associated Nup107-160 complex is required for proper mitotic progression, thus demonstrating a function for structural nucleoporins in cell division. Michela is currently working on novel possible mitotic functions for proteins showing a dual localization at nuclear pores and kinetochores.

This class of proteins is a good candidate for coordinating the temporal order of different cellular events, such as entry (NE disassembly), progression (chromosome congression and segregation) and exit (NE reassembly) from mitosis.