Giampietro Schiavo

BIOGRAPHY

Giampietro Schiavo is currently on sabbatical.

CURRENT POSITIONS:
Professor Giampietro Schiavo is a Principal Investigator at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (London, UK) and Honorary Professor at University College London.

EDUCATION:
• PhD 1992 University of Padua, Italy
• Postdoctoral work at University of Padua and at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York

HONORS/AWARDS:
• 1988 Award for the best student of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Padua (I)
• 1993 Award of the Italian National Academy of Sciences 'Dott Giuseppe Borgia'
• 1995 International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) Young Scientist Award
• 2002 Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Foundation Career Development Award
• 2009 CaRiPaRo Foundation Visiting Professorship at the Scuola Galileiana di Studi Superiori, University of Padua (I)
• 2010-present Member, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
• 2011-present Fellow, Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci)

MEMBERSHIPS
• 2001-present Member, American Society of Cell Biology
• 1997-present Member, Biochemical Society
• 1994-present Member, International Society for Neurochemistry

EDITORIAL POSITIONS:
• 2009-present Editorial Board, Cell Death & Disease
• 2008-present Review Editor, Frontiers in Neuroengineering
• 2008-present Editorial Board, Protein Journal
• 2007-present Editor, Journal of Cell Science (Neuroscience)
• 2002-present Editorial Board, Traffic

RESEARCH GOALS:
To understand the mechanisms underlying neuronal membrane trafficking and neurotransmitter release and develop novel tools for the dissection of these processes.

The identification of the mechanisms responsible for membrane sorting and trafficking at the synapse is one of the challenging frontiers of neurobiology. Despite the importance of these processes for neuronal homeostasis, differentiation and survival, they are yet still poorly understood at molecular level. Specific sorting allows the retention of pools of endocytic vesicles at the synapse or their targeting to axonal retrograde transport routes. Retrograde transport pathways allow the cross-talk between the synapse and the soma and are crucial for the physiological transport of neurotrophins and various signalling molecules, and the entry of pathogens in the nervous system. Impairment of the precise balance between anterograde and retrograde axonal transport is thought to be at the basis of severe neurodegenerative pathologies.

Our laboratory aims to provide an integrated approach to the study of neuronal membrane dynamics. In the last year, we have made significant progress in defining the machinery controlling the uptake and sorting of ligands to axonal transport pathways in neurons. We analysed the properties of the retrograde transport compartment in health and disease, highlighting the central role of dynein in the movement of these carriers and in disease progression in an animal model of motor neuron disease. Furthermore, we investigated the function of molecular motors in the trafficking of Kidins220, a neurotrophin receptor regulator in neurons. These studies have been complemented by the analysis of torsinA, a protein that once mutated causes an early-onset dystonia in humans by affecting the targeting of proteins involved in neurotransmitter release.

HOME PAGE
http://www.london-research-institute.org.uk/research/loc/london/lifch/schiavog/?view=LRI&source=research_portfolio