CAPPELLETTI GRAZIELLA

Graziella Cappelletti is Associate professor of Human Anatomy, tenured position, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Milano.

I have proven expertise in the field of cell biology of the cytoskeleton and its pivotal role in health and disease. In the first part of my career, I moved from purified proteins to cell cultures and mice models and built a strong experience in studying the microtubule system, its organization and dynamics, in gene- and toxin-based models of Parkinson's disease. I investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration through multiple approaches ranging from in vitro assays to biochemistry and microscopy analyses in cultured neurons and brain sections by means of over-expression, silencing or incubation with recombinant proteins. In addition, live cell imaging and video-microscopy is used to look at microtubule dynamics and microtubule-dependant processes crucial to maintain neuronal functions, including vesicles recycling and axonal transport. In last years, I became extremely interested in the study of microtubule system and its regulation in human tissues as well as its role in neurodegeneration. My team has been working on a range of human cellular models such as skin fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem cells and induced-Pluripotent Stem Cells, and in human tissues including brain and skin biopsy. We contributed to a novel scenario in which microtubule dysfunction plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. The numerous invitations for talks I received remarks the relevance of my work. I have also organized the Symposium S61 “Insights into early cellular dysfunctions leading to synucleinopathies” (7th Mediterranean Neuroscience Society, 2019). Finally, I received funding from national and international agencies and I am engaged in several collaborations allowing me to address research projects through a multidisciplinary approach. To date, I have co-authored 69 publications in peer-reviewed international journals (23 as first author and 30 as last and/or corresponding author) and one patent (1714 total citations; H-index 25; WOS, ORCID 0000-0003-0903-5392).

Positions and Employment
1986: Post-graduation training at Neurological Institute "C.Besta" of Milan (Neuropharmacology Lab).
1987-89: Fellowship at Neurological Institute "C.Besta" of Milan. Title of research project: A study of the intracellular antioxidant systems as possible etiopathogenetic cause of Parkinson’s disease".
1989 – 1990: Postgraduate fellow, at the Dept. of Biology, University of Milan, Italy
1990 - 1993: Maternity leave.
1990 – 2001: High scientific officer, tenured position, at the Dept. of Biology, University of Milan, Italy.
June 2000 and February-March 2001: Visiting scientist at the Dept. of Cell Biology, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany. (Director: Dr. E. Karsenti)
2001 – 2005: Research Associate (Comparative Anatomy and Cytology), University of Milan, Italy.
September 2005 – March 2015: Lecturer of Comparative Anatomy (Assistant professor) and Research group leader, University of Milan, Italy.
April 2015 – October 2018: Associate professor of Comparative Anatomy and Cytology, Department Biosciences, University of Milan, Italy.
October 2017 – present: Coordinator of the master degree in Biology Applied to Research in Biomedicine (University of Milan, Italy)
November 2018 – present: Associate professor of Human Anatomy, Department Biosciences, University of Milan, Italy.

Invited speaker and selected presentations (last 5 years)

SfN (Society for Neuroscience) NEUROSCIENCE 2014, November 15-19, 2014. Washington, (DC) USA. Title of the talk: “Looking at microtubule dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease: from Parkin knockout mice to human iPSCs”.
Gordon Research Conference, “Parkinson’s disease. Emerging research in the etiology and pathogenesis of a complex disease. June 2 – July 3, 2015, New London, NH, USA; Title of the talk: “Parkinson’s disease linked proteins modulate microtubule function: is it the missing piece in the pathogenic pathway?”.
International Meeting “Molecular Neurodegeneration –News and Views in Molecular Neuroscience in Health and Disease”, July 20 – 22, 2015, Delmenhorst, Germany. Title of the talk: “Looking at microtubule dysfunction in toxin- and gene-based models of Parkinson’s disease”.
2nd Meeting in Challenging Organic Synthesis Inspired by Nature - From Natural Products to Drug Discovery, April 4-6, 2016, Madrid, Spain. Title of the talk: “Microtubule defects and targeting agents in experimental models of Parkinson’s disease”.
53° Meeting of the Italian Society of Neuropathology and Clinical Neurobiology, May 18-20, 2017, Padua. Title of the talk: “Alpha-synuclein: from cell biology to pathology”.
6th Mediterranean Neuroscience Society, Malta, June 12-15, 2017, Title of the talk in symposium S11 “Microtubule dysfunction in animal models of Parkinson’s disease”,
Meeting of the GBM Study Group “Molecular Neurobiology”. Dynamics of the Nervous System in Health and Disease, September 20-22, 2018, Marburg (Germany). Title of the talk: “Microtubule dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease: from pure protein to human brain”.
7th Mediterranean Neuroscience Society, Marrakech (Morocco), June 23-27, 2019, Title of the talk in symposium S61 “The interplay between alpha-Synuclein and tubulin/microtubules in health and disease”.

Other experience and Professional Memberships
- Member of SFN Society for Neuroscience; Member of the Italian Society of Neuroscience (SINS); Member of the Italian Society of Human Anatomy and Histology (SIAI); Member of the Italian Society of Neuromorphology (GISN).
- Ad hoc reviewer for BBA Molecular Basis of Disease, Brain Research, Cell Death and Disease, Cellular and Molecular Life Science, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, EBioMedicine, European Journal of Pharmacology, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, Neural Plasticity, Neuroscience Letters, European Journal of Pharmacology, PLoS ONE, Scientific Reports.
- Grant reviewer for: MIUR, United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, Parkinson’ UK.

Research Support (Last 5 years)

- Fondazione Grigioni per il Morbo di Parkinson, 2015-2016. “Mesenchymal stem cells in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP): evaluation of cytoskeleton structure and stability. Role: Principal Investigator. (45000 euro)
- Sweedish Research Council, 2015-2017. “Patient specific induced pluripotent stem cells to study synucleinopathies”. Role: Collaborator.
- Fondazione Grigioni per il Morbo di Parkinson, 2017. “Role of microtubule dysfuction in Parkinson’s disease and PSP”. Role: Principal Investigator. (30000 euro)
- Fondazione Grigioni per il Morbo di Parkinson, 2017-2019. “Role of microtubule dysfuction in Parkinson’s disease: a study on human brain”. Role: Principal Investigator (60000 euro)
- Università degli Studi di Milano, Program “Linea 2” 2018. “Dissecting the interplay of -synuclein with tubulin/microtubules: from pure proteins to brain”. Role: Principal Investigator (8000 euro)
- Fondazione Grigioni” for Parkinson’s disease, 2020-2021. “Pathogenic mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonisms: a study on human brain”. Role: Principal Investigator (60000 euro/year)
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - (ITN) Call: H2020- MSCA-ITN-2019 (EJD)" (proposal 860070). “Tuning Tubulin Dynamics and Interactions to Face Neurotoxicity: a Multidisciplinary Approach for Training and Research (Tubintrain)”. Role Partner and supervisor of one Early Stage Researcher (56000 to GC per year, four years)
- Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PRIN 2017, project 2017228L3J_002). “Molecular and cellular mechanisms modulating GBA mutation penetrance in Parkinson’s disease”. Role: participant (Funding period 2019-2021, quote funding to GC 10000 euro per year).