Experience

CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE - CNR

• Research Services
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Dirigente di Ricerca

  • Dec 2001 - Present

  RESEARCH EXPERIENCE 1976-1984 Biochemical purification and immunological characterisation of muscle acetylcholine receptors in parallel with the identification of the mechanism involved in antibody production in myasthenia gravis 1984-1987 Identification and characterisation of the neurotoxins active on central nicotinic receptors. Localisation of agonist and antagonist binding sites on the alpha subunit of muscle acetylcholine receptors. 1987-present: Identification of antibodies against neuronal nicotinic receptor subtypes in patients with myasthenia gravis or other neurological diseases. Synthesis and characterisation of new drugs with selective activity on neuronal nicotinic receptor subtypes. Systematic identification, characterisation and purification of the nicotinic receptor subtypes present in the central and autonomous nervous systems of chicks, rats, mice and humans. Biochemical, pharmacological and immunological Identification and characterisation of the nAChRs present in the dopaminergic mesocorticolimbic pathway of rodents using tissues from wild-type, knockout and lesioned animals. Systematic biochemical, pharmacological and immunological characterisation of the nAChRs expressed at low levels in other regions of the central nervous system. In vivo and in vitro studies of the effects and mechanisms by which chronic nicotine exposure affects the expression of nicotinic and glutamatergic receptors. Analysis of the physiological and pathological expression and role of neuronal nicotinic receptors in numerous non-neuronal cell types and tissues, particularly the mechanisms involved in the nicotine-induced proliferation and migration of different types of tumour cells. Author of 139 full-length papers (125 in peer-reviewed international journals, with a total impact factor of >570; 14 in English language books), with a global number of citations of about 5900 and H scores of 43 (Google Scholar), 38 (Scopus) and 37 (Web of Knowledge). Show less