Maria Stella received her BS degree and MS degree in biology from the University of Padova in Italy. In 2015, she completed her PhD in oncology at the University of Padova, working in the tumor immunology group led by Professor Vincenzo Bronte. Her PhD research focused on developing new approaches to modulate tumor-induced immunosuppressive myeloid cells by using nanosystems for drug and RNA delivery. Maria Stella joined the Swartz group as a postdoctoral researcher in November 2015.