Tomasello Marianna Flora

 

Marianna F. Tomasello was trained in biological sciences at the University of Catania, obtaining her graduation with Honors (cum laude) in 2001, working on the mitochondria and apoptosis. She joined the team of Pr. Mazat at INSERM Bordeaux (France) in the framework of the ERASMUS program where she was introduced to the use of fluorescence technologies, including confocal and wide field epifluorescence microscopy and cytofluorimetry. Shortly after the graduation she went back to Bordeaux, as Dr. F. Ichas offered her to spend a year in his lab to carry on a short-term industrial (UCB-Pharma) research project as research assistant. After the successful completion of this program, she registered for a voluntary PhD at the University of Catania (Italy) under the supervision of Prof. V. De Pinto and continued to regularly interact with the Ichas group during the PhD, supported by a bilateral France-Italy GALILEO program, awarded to her. She was also awarded a French “EGIDE” fellowship for the completion of her PhD thesis in Bordeaux. The project she developed in her PhD thesis concerned the study of the molecular mechanisms of apoptotic cell death.

In 2005 she was appointed for a two-year postdoctoral position at the CEA (commissariat a l’energie Atomique) in Gif Sur Yvette (France) to work within the Prof. M. Toledano and Prof J.Drapier teams. The project she developed concerned the cellular metabolism of oxygen and reactive oxygen species (ROS) acting on cysteine residues and their significance in aging and cancer.

In 2008 she joined the Sonja Vermeren team at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge (United Kingdom) to fill a vacancy as Research Assistant, where she was involved in the study of a small GTPase called ARAP3 in the regulation of cell migration and chemotaxix.

Her stay, planned for a year, lasted only six months as she was offered to come back to Italy under a “ricercatore di chiara fama” contract, at the CNRIBB UOS under the supervision of Dr. G. Pappalardo. In 2009 she was admitted to the international PhD program in Neuropharmacology at Catania University, under the supervision of Prof A. Copani. She obtained her Neuropharmacology PhD in 2012 defending a thesis concerning the role of Amiloid beta peptide in the development of Alzheimer disease. Since then, she has been working in the field of neurosciences. Since December 2018 she has a permanent position as researcher of the National Research Council (CNR).

Carrying on her research career, she was also involved in teaching Molecular Biology and Fluorescence-based analytical methodologies at the CNRIBB and University of Catania, and she has supervised undergraduate and PhD students.

Topics: Life Science, Apoptotis, Mitochondria, Signal Transduction, Neurobiology, Oxidative stress, Cancer.

Techniques: Cellular and Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Imaging, Flow Cytometry, Fluorescence, HTS, HCS.

Established long-standing cooperation with several outstanding groups, as witnessed by the scientific production: V. DePinto (unict), E. Rizzarelli (unict), A. Copani (unict), G. Lazzarino (unict), D. Fregona (unipd), PV. Piazza (INSERM), L. Bepoldin (CNRS), C. Satriano (unict), N. Micali (CNR), C. Martini (unipi). F. Nicoletti (uniroma),

Studio dei determinanti molecolari nei processi neurodegenerativi (07/09/2022)
La neurodegenerazione è un processo che porta alla graduale ed irreversibile perdita delle funzioni neuronali. Diverse patologie a carico del sistema nervoso presentano spesso tratti comuni in molti aspetti molecolari riconosciuti come plausibili cause e/o conseguenze. Tra questi ricordiamo: la disomeostasi di ioni metallici, lo stress ossidativo e nitrosativo, l’accumulo di proteine misfoldate e conseguente aggregazione di esse (inteso anche come crome aggregazione eterologa o cross-seeding) e le alterazioni nella funzione mitocondriale. Nel corso dell’ultimo decennio il nostro gruppo ha portato avanti  ricerche rivolte alla migliore comprensione dei seguenti aspetti: i) il ruolo fisiologico di forme non aggregate di proteine amiloidi e il loro coinvolgimento nella regolazione del metabolismo energetico, ii) il significato delle modifiche post-traduzionali sulla funzionalità di proteine amiloidi quali Aβ e α-sinucleina iii) il ruolo della proteina Hsp60 come chaperon molecolare e come modulatore della funzione energetica attraverso  il recettore IGF1-R iv) la modalità di azione di alcuni peptidi di derivazione “endogena” rispetto alle loro funzioni neuroprotettiva e neurotrofica, tramite la stimolazione del metabolismo energetico. Tali studi hanno permesso di meglio comprendere i meccanismi molecolari che regolano vari processi associati alla neurodegenerazione,  con particolare attenzione alle vie di signaling che, anche tramite il controllo della funzione energetica, regolano finemente l’instaurarsi di  processi quali, differenziamento, apoptosi, necrosi etc.

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