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-ISAS as Associate Professor in Molecular Biology, starting the new Laboratory of Cerebral Cortex Development.
In the past, 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 and non-coding RNAs implicated in these processes. More recently, he moved to molecular control of cortico-cerebral astrogenesis and neuronal morphogenesis, and developed innovative methods for RNA-therapy of neurodevelopmental haploinsufficiencies.
Selected publications:
Diodato A, Pinzan M, Granzotto M, Mallamaci A (2013). Promotion of cortico-cerebral precursors expansion by artificial pri-miRNAs targeted against the Emx2 locus. Curr Gene Ther. 13(2): 152-61.
Brancaccio M, Pivetta C, Granzotto M, Filippis C, Mallamaci A (2010). Emx2 and Foxg1 inhibit gliogenesis and promote neuronogenesis. Stem Cells 28(7): 1206-1218.
Muzio L, Mallamaci A (2005). Foxg1 confines Cajal-Retzius neuronogenesis and hippocampal morphogenesis to the dorsomedial pallium. J Neurosci. 25(17): 4435-4441.
Muzio L, DiBenedetto B, Stoykova A, Boncinelli E, Gruss P, Mallamaci A (2002). Conversion of cerebral cortex into basal ganglia in Emx2(-/-) Pax6(Sey/Sey) double-mutant mice. Nat Neurosci. 5(8): 737-745.
Mallamaci A, Muzio L, Chan CH, Parnavelas J, Boncinelli E (2000). Area identity shifts in the early cerebral cortex of Emx2-/- mutant mice. Nat Neurosci. 3(7): 679-686.