Neurobiology and Molecular Genetics

Principal Investigator: Prof. Ferdinando Fiumara

Group members:

Ferdinando Fiumara (Associate Professor ;Principal Investigator)
Mirella Ghirardi (Associate Professor)
Marco Dell'Oca (Research Fellow)

Address and contacts:

Ferdinando Fiumara; 011-6708486; ferdinando.fiumara@unito.it

Main research activities of the research group
Our lab is following two main lines of research.

Memory-related synaptic plasticity
One research line focuses on the molecular mechanisms of different forms of short- and long-term synaptic plasticity underlying learning and memory over both short- and long-term time scales. We invesigate these mechanisms through a combination of molecular, biochemical, electrophysiological, and imaging approaches.
Neurological and muscular genetic diseases
A parallel research line concerns the structural, molecular and cellular mechanisms of genetic diseases characterized by polyglutamine (polyQ) or polyalanine (polyA) expansions in proteins, such as Huntington's disease (HD), cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) and oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD). Furthermore, we are investigating fundamental physiopathological mechanisms underlying the molecular pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders like Rett syndrome and NEDAMSS.

List of 10 main publications

Fiumara F, Fioriti L, Kandel ER, Hendrickson WA. (2010) Essential role of coiled coils for aggregation and activity of Q/N-rich prions and PolyQ proteins. Cell 143(7) 1121-35
Fiumara F, Rajasethupathy P, Antonov I, Kosmidis S, Sossin WS, Kandel ER. (2015) MicroRNA-22 Gates Long-Term Heterosynaptic Plasticity in Aplysia through Presynaptic Regulation of CPEB and Downstream Targets. Cell reports 11(12) 1866-75
Pelassa I, Cora D, Cesano F, Monje FJ, Montarolo PG, Fiumara F. (2014) Association of polyalanine and polyglutamine coiled coils mediates expansion disease-related protein aggregation and dysfunction. Human molecular genetics 23(13) 3402-20
Rajasethupathy P, Fiumara F, Sheridan R, Betel D, Puthanveettil SV, Russo JJ, Sander C, Tuschl T, Kandel E. (2009) Characterization of small RNAs in Aplysia reveals a role for miR-124 in constraining synaptic plasticity through CREB. Neuron 63(6) 803-17
Giachello CN, Fiumara F, Giacomini C, Corradi A, Milanese C, Ghirardi M, Benfenati F, Montarolo PG. (2010) MAPK/Erk-dependent phosphorylation of synapsin mediates formation of functional synapses and short-term homosynaptic plasticity. Journal of cell science 123(Pt 6) 881-93
Claverol-Tinture E, Ghirardi M, Fiumara F, Rosell X, Cabestany J. (2005) Multielectrode arrays with elastomeric microstructured overlays for extracellular recordings from patterned neurons. Journal of neural engineering 2(2) L1-7
Pelassa I, Cibelli M, Villeri V, Lilliu E, Vaglietti S, Olocco F, Ghirardi M, Montarolo PG, Cora D, Fiumara F. (2019) Compound Dynamics and Combinatorial Patterns of Amino Acid Repeats Encode a System of Evolutionary and Developmental Markers. Genome biology and evolution 11(11) 3159-3178
Fiumara F, Giovedi S, Menegon A, Milanese C, Merlo D, Montarolo PG, Valtorta F, Benfenati F, Ghirardi M. (2004) Phosphorylation by cAMP-dependent protein kinase is essential for synapsin-induced enhancement of neurotransmitter release in invertebrate neurons. Journal of cell science 117(Pt 21) 5145-54
Lilliu E, Villeri V, Pelassa I, Cesano F, Scarano D, Fiumara F. (2018) Polyserine repeats promote coiled coil-mediated fibril formation and length-dependent protein aggregation. Journal of structural biology 204(3) 572-584
Vaglietti S, Fiumara F. (2021) PolyQ length co-evolution in neural proteins. NAR genomics and bioinformatics 3(2) lqab032