Chiara Porta graduated at the Biotechnology School, at the University of Milan, Italy in 2000 and got the PhD degree in Biotechnology applied at the Medical Sciences, at the University of Milan, Italy in 2003. She spent 18 months at the Institute André Lwoff, CNRS, Villejuif, France, studying interferon dependent apoptotic signaling under the supervision of Dr Mounirà Chelbi-Alix.

Since 2004, her research activity has been mainly focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying macrophage polarized activation in tumor and other inflammatory conditions in the group directed by Professor Sica, initially at Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milan, Italy, and then at Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano. Since 2011 she is Assistant Professor of Pathology at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogradro”. Her current research focuses on macrophages in intestinal inflammation and cancer.