Martina joined the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, IoPPN, King's College London for her PhD studies in 2019 - partly undertaken at Donders Institute, Nijmegen. She completed her PhD in 2023, and has been working since then as postdoctoral researcher in FANS. Her work focuses on understanding neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., autism) by using genetics, imaging - transcriptomics, and proteomics analyses. In particular, she investigates the role of immune dysregulations on brain structure and behaviour in neurodevelopment. She also received a personal grant from the Waterloo Foundation in 2024 to investigate the influence of genetics markers involved in vitamin D signalling on brain organisation and clinical traits in autism. 

Research Interests

• Genomics
• Transcriptomics
• Imaging genetics
• Neuroimmunity
• Neurodevelopment
• Immunopsychiatry

Research Groups

Martina is member of the Janita Bralten's lab, at Donders Institute - investigating the multifactorial genetics of psychiatric conditions and co-morbidity with immunometabolic conditions.

She is member of AIMS2-TRAILS consortium - investigating potential biomarkers for autism diagnosis, stratification and support strategies and member of the MICROnest consortium - investigating immunological influences contributing to early developmental disturbances and pre-term birth. 

Teaching

Martina is graduate teaching assistant for Research Methods and Statistic Modules for the Clinicial Neuroscience; She supervise MSc students projects for the Clinical Neurodevelopmental MSc and delivers workshop on clinical assessment tools for the Forensic Mental health MSc programmes.  

Expertise and Public Engagement 

Martina has been writing blogs on neuroscience, mental health and mind-body connections for Donders Wonders blog. She teaches yoga for students and staff at King's, as part of the BeActive initiatives for student and staff wellbeing. She also part-time support the South London and Maudsley Autism and ADHD adult services - helping with development and revision of resources for psycho-education for adult neurodivergent people.

Key Publications

Arenella, M., Matuleviciute, R., Tamouza, R., Leboyer, M., McAlonan, G., Bralten, J., & Murphy, D. (2023). Immunogenetics of autism spectrum disorder: A systematic literature review. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 114, 488-499.

Arenella, M., Fanelli, G., Kiemeney, L. A., McAlonan, G., Murphy, D. G., & Bralten, J. (2023). Genetic relationship between the immune system and autism. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-Health, 34, 100698.

Arenella, M., Cadby, G., De Witte, W., Jones, R. M., Whitehouse, A. J., Moses, E. K., ... & Bralten, J. (2022). Potential role for immune-related genes in autism spectrum disorders: Evidence from genome-wide association meta-analysis of autistic traits. Autism, 26(2), 361-372.

Arenella, M., Mota, N. R., Teunissen, M. W., Brunner, H. G., & Bralten, J. (2023). Autism spectrum disorder and brain volume link through a set of mTOR‐related genes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 64(7), 1007-1014.

Arenella, M. (2024). Immunomodulatory options for neurodevelopmental spectrum conditions: are we there yet?. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 39(4), 220-222.

Pretzsch, C. M., Arenella, M., Lerch, J. P., Lombardo, M. V., Beckmann, C., Schaefer, T., ... & Ecker, C. (2024). Patterns of brain maturation in autism and their molecular associations. JAMA psychiatry, 81(12), 1253-1264.

Fanelli, G., Franke, B., Fabbri, C., Werme, J., Erdogan, I., De Witte, W., ... & Bralten, J. (2025). Local patterns of genetic sharing between neuropsychiatric and insulin resistance-related conditions. Translational psychiatry, 15(1), 145.

Pretzsch, C. M., Floris, D. L., Schäfer, T., Bletsch, A., Gurr, C., Lombardo, M. V., ... & Ecker, C. (2023). Cross-sectional and longitudinal neuroanatomical profiles of distinct clinical (adaptive) outcomes in autism. Molecular Psychiatry, 28(5), 2158-2169.

Fanelli, G., Robinson, J., Fabbri, C., Bralten, J., Mota, N. R., Arenella, M., ... & Serretti, A. (2025). Shared genetics and causal relationship between sociability and the brain’s default mode network. Psychological Medicine, 55, e157.

Šakić, B., Erdogan, I., Fanelli, G., Klein, M., Arenella, M., Mota, N. R., & Bralten, J. (2026). Shared genetic architecture between psychiatric and insulin-related traits in the general population. Neuroscience Applied, 107017.

Naaijen, J., Arenella, M., Zöllner, H. J., Puts, N. A., Lythgoe, D. J., Brandeis, D., ... & Buitelaar, J. K. (2022). Variation in glutamate and GABA genes and their association with brain structure and chemistry in autism. bioRxiv, 2022-05.