Maria Grazia Cusi graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of Siena in 1981. In 1990 she went to the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia (USA) for a period of scientific training at the Laboratory directed by Dr. Giovanni Rovera.

During her stay in the United States she acquired scientific and basic skills in molecular biology and in particular learned the techniques for manipulating viral vectors, such as the baculovirus, and dedicated herself to the construction of recombinant hybrid molecules of some cytokines with specific activity. She returned there to complete her studies in 1991.

In October 2001 she was appointed Confirmed Researcher at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Siena and the following year she became Associate Professor in Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology.

She is currently full professor of microbiology and clinical microbiology at the University of Siena and Director of the Microbiology and Virology Operational Unit of the Siena University Hospital. Sche is the author of more than 175 scientific articles in international journals and inventor of 7 patents (4 of which have international extension). She collaborated in the drafting of some chapters of the book Medical Microbiology by G. Antonelli et al. (ed. Casa Editrice Ambrosiana). She has presented more than 150 abstracts at National and International Conferences.