Brain development and disease

Principal Investigator: Prof. Alessandro Vercelli

Group members:

• Alessandro Vercelli - Deputy Rector for Biomedical Research, Full Professor of Human Anatomy
• Marina Boido - Associate Professor of Human Anatomy
• Adriano Ceccarelli - Associate Professor of Biology
• Corrado Calì - Associate Professor of Human Anatomy
• Letizia Marvaldi - Assistant Professor RTDB of Human Anatomy
• Roberta Schellino - Assistant Professor RTDB of Human Anatomy
• Serena Stanga - Assistant Professor RTDB of Human Anatomy
• Elena Signorino - University research Technician
• Giovanna Menduti - PostDoc Fellow
• Mariarosa Mezzanotte - PostDoc Fellow
• Vanessa Chiappini - Fellowship recipient
• Anna Caretto - PhD student
• Amisha Parmar - PhD student

Address and contacts:

• Alessandro Vercelli, 0116706617, alessandro.vercelli@unito.it

External website link

• https://www.nico.ottolenghi.unito.it/eng/Research/Research-Groups/Brain-development-and-disease

Main research activities of the research group

We study the development of the central nervous system from the embryo to the aged, and the common neurobiological mechanisms and molecular pathways which lead to normal development and to neurodegeneration. We believe that basic and applied neuroscience are strongly interconnected.

In particular, we are investigating cerebral cortex, retina and spinal cord, and the organization of visual, motor and somatosensory primary pathways. Since many neurobiological molecular mechanisms can be studied at different levels, we use cell cultures and in vivo models, from simple organisms to rodents.

We are interested in the molecular pathways leading to neurogenesis and neuronal cell death, which we study in development and in experimental models of transient/permanent cerebral ischemia, acute/chronic glaucoma, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, we are studying the immunomodulatory, neuroprotective and growth promoting roles of cell therapy in SMA, ALS and spinal cord injury, particularly related to neuroinflammation.

List of 10 main publications

• Boido M, Gesmundo I, Caretto A, Pedrolli F, Schellino R, Leone S, Cai R, Sha W, Ghigo E, Schally AV, Vercelli A, Granata R. Agonist of growth hormone-releasing hormone improves the disease features of spinal muscular atrophy mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Jan 10;120(2):e2216814120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2216814120.
• Januel C, Menduti G, Mamchaoui K, Martinat C, Artero R, Konieczny P, Boido M. Moxifloxacin rescues SMA phenotypes in patient-derived cells and animal model. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2022 Jul 22;79(8):441. doi: 10.1007/s00018-022-04450-8
• Mezzanotte M, Ammirata G, Boido M, Stanga S, Roetto A (2022) Activation of the Hepcidin-Ferroportin1 pathway in the brain and astrocytic–neuronal crosstalk to counteract iron dyshomeostasis during aging. Scientific Reports, 11724. July. DOI.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15812-4
• Agostina Di Pizio, Letizia Marvaldi, Marie-Christine Birling, Nataliya Okladnikov, Luc Dupuis, Mike Fainzilber, Ida Rishal. A conditional null allele of Dync1h1 enables targeted analyses of dynein roles in neuronal length sensing. J Cell Sci. 2023 Mar 1;136(5):jcs260220. doi: 10.1242/jcs.260220. Epub 2022 Oct 31.
• Lavorato A, Raimondo S, Boido M, Muratori L, Durante G, Cofano F, Vincitorio F, Petrone S, Titolo P, Tartara F, Vercelli A, Garbossa D. Mesenchymal Stem Cell Treatment Perspectives in Peripheral Nerve Regeneration: Systematic Review. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan 8;22(2):572. doi: 10.3390/ijms22020572.
• Rainero I, Summers MJ, Monter M, Bazzani M, Giannouli E, Aumayr G, Burin D, Provero P, Vercelli AE; My-AHA Consortium. The My Active and Healthy Aging ICT platform prevents quality of life decline in older adults: a randomized controlled study. Age Ageing. 2021 Jan 22:afaa290. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afaa290.
• Boido M, Butenko O, Filippo C, Schellino R, Vrijbloed WV, Fariello RG, Vercelli A. A new protein curbs the hypertrophic effect of myostatin inhibition, adding remarkable endurance to motor performance in mice. PLoS One. 2020;15(3):e0228653. Published 2020 Mar 11. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228653
• Schellino R, Boido M, Vercelli A. 2020 The Dual Nature of Onuf's Nucleus: Neuroanatomical Features and Peculiarities, in Health and Disease. Front Neuroanat. Sep 4;14:572013.
• Petrelli F, Zehnder T, Laugeray A, Mondoloni S, Calì C, Pucci L, Molinero Perez A, Bondiolotti BM, De Oliveira Figueiredo E, Dallerac G, Déglon N, Giros B, Magrassi L, Mothet JP, Mameli M, Simmler L, Bezzi P (2022) Disruption of astrocyte-dependent dopamine control in the developing medial prefrontal cortex leads to excessive grooming in mice. Biological Psychiatry, 2022 Dec 5, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.11.018
• Schellino R, Boido M, Vercelli A. JNK signaling pathway involvement in spinal cord neuron development and death. Cells, Vol. 8, Pag 1576.