Antonello Mallamaci

NEUROBIOLOGY

Born in Naples in 1961, Antonello Mallamaci got his Diploma in Pianoforte at the Conservatorio of Naples in 1985 and his Degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Naples in 1990. He worked with Dado Boncinelli (IIGB-CNR, Naples, 1989-1991, and DIBIT-HSR, Milan, 1992-2001) and had stages in the labs of Robb Krumlauf (NIMR-MRC, Mill Hill, UK, 1993), Wolfgang Wurst (GSF, Munich, Germany, 1997) and John Parnavelas (UCL, London, 1999). In 2002, he established the Unit of Cerebral Cortex Development, at the DIBIT-HSR in Milan. In 2006, he moved to the SISSA as Associate Professor in Molecular Biology, starting the new Laboratory of Cerebral Cortex Development.

During early phases of his career, Antonello Mallamaci contributed to reconstruction of molecular mechanisms controlling early cortical specification of the dorsal telencephalon, regionalisation of the cortico-cerebral field and appropriate sizing of distinctive areas arising from it, paying special attention to a small set of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors genes. Later, he extended his interests to some non-coding RNAs (miRNAs and lncRNAs) implicated in these processes. More recently, he started to work at repairing the damaged cerebral cortex, via reactivation of gene networks involved in its embryonic morphogenesis.

LABORATORY OF CEREBRAL CORTEX DEVELOPMENT