Mariacristina Missale obtained her degree in Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry (1978) and Specialization in Pharmacology (1981) at the University of Milano. In 1982 she was trained at NHLBI-NIH under the supervision of Dr. I. Hanbauer. She was appointed as Assistant Professor at the University of Brescia School of Medicine (Italy) in 1986 and was promoted to Associate Professor of Pharmacology in 1992. In 1995 she joined the laboratory of Dr. Marc Caron at Duke University (Durham) where she was involved in the study of dopamine transporter function and regulation. In 1987 she was awarded by the Italian Society of Pharmacology and in 1997 by the Italian Society of Neuroscience. In 2005 she obtained the position of Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Brescia.

The research interest of Mariacristina Missale has been primarily focussed on dopamine receptor signalling and function in the central nervous system and the pituitary. In particular, she was involved in the study of D2 receptor signalling and plasticity and identified a NGF-mediated mechanism controlling D2 receptor expression. Her laboratory is currently interested in the interactions of dopamine receptors with other neurotransmitter receptors and transductional proteins and in the identification of molecular mechanisms of levodopa-induced dyskinesias in animal models of Parkinson‰Ûªs disease. Recently she gave original contributions to the identification and characterization of dopamine receptor heterodimers and determined the role of these complexes in the development of levodopa-induced dyskinesias.