Casagrande’s research has always been articulated in the sector of Industrial Bioengineering, with particular reference to the “Life Support Systems” area, and mainly deals with mass transport in biological systems and fluid dynamics in macro- and micro-channels. In particular, she started her scientific activity in the field of dialysis, both modeling mass exchange during hemodialysis therapy and studying the alterations in cardiac mechanics due to vascular access for hemodialysis.

She moved to the study of mechanical stresses acting on cells exploiting them as drug carriers and then to the computational modeling of tissue microcirculation. The study of cell motion in microfluidic conduits has also been applied to the optimization of a device for cell enrichment in the framework of prenatal diagnosis. During her career path, she has explored universities (PoliMi and Lund University), public research centers (IRCCS Cà Granda), private research centers (IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital) as well as pharma companies (Merylo’ Srl).

Since 2019, she actively collaborates with the laboratory of Cancer Experimental Therapeutics led by Professor Carmelo Carlo-Stella at Humanitas Research Hospital for the evaluation of a new therapeutical strategy for DLBCL lymphoma by using Red Blood Cells as drug carriers.