She completed her Ph.D. studies in Chemistry at Columbia University, where she worked in the group of Prof. Ged Parkin in the area of inorganic synthesis and catalysis. She then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she worked with Prof. Stephen Lippard on the study of zinc biology as an NIH postdoctoral fellow. Work in her research group at NYU focuses on the development of new molecular probes and imaging strategies for the study of cellular metal homeostasis, in particular that of magnesium and manganese. Prof. Buccella currently serves in the editorial advisory board of Inorganic Chemistry and has been the recipient of a Whitehead Fellowship for Junior Faculty in Biomedical and Biological Sciences, and an NSF CAREER award.