Maria Scherma is an associate professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Cagliari. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Cagliari in 2004 and a Diploma in Pharmacology and Applied Pharmacology from the same university in 2007. Maria was a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, Preclinical Pharmacology Section, in Baltimore, MA, USA, from 2005 to 2008.