Mirella graduated from the University of Bari (Italy) with a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Agricultural Biotechnology. Before completing her Master’s, she worked as a visiting researcher at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center (Parlier, CA – USA). Her M.Sc. research aimed to understand the relationship between woody fungal pathogenic species and the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa in almond plants. As a Ph.D. student in the Cantù Lab, she will continue working on Xylella fastidiosa. Specifically, she will focus on the characterization of Pierce’s Disease (PD) resistance genes in grapevines.