Andrea Ballabio

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Andrea Ballabio
Andrea Ballabio.jpg
Born(1957-01-27)January 27, 1957
Alma mater
Awards Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2016) [1]
Scientific career
Institutions

Andrea Ballabio (born in Naples, Italy, January 27, 1957) is an Italian scientist and academic professor. He is founder-director of the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Naples, Italy; professor of medical genetics at the University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy and visiting professor of genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, U.S. and at the University of Oxford, UK. He is also the former director of the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine in Milan, Italy. [2] He is the recipient of 2016 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for his contribution to understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling the function of lysosomes in health and disease. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

After graduating in medicine and specializing in pediatrics at the Federico II University in Naples, he spent many years abroad, first in England and then in the United States, where he became associate professor at the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of Baylor Human Genome Center in Houston, Texas. In 1994 he returned to Italy, where he founded TIGEM, of which he is the scientific director. TIGEM is a research institute of excellence in Italy, with about 220 researchers from all over the world. Along with his team of researchers, he has identified genetic mutations responsible for many rare genetic diseases. His discovery of the TFEB gene, which controls the functioning of lysosomes, has had a major impact on cellular biology and neurodegenerative diseases.

Career

At the beginning of his research career, he focused his attention on gene-disease identification including: the Kallmann syndrome gene (involved in axonal orientation), the OA1 gene (which deals withmelanosomes biogenesis and is mutated in ocular albinism), the paraplegine gene (which is involved in mitochondrial biology and mutated in hereditary spastic paraplegia), the MID1 gene (which is involved in the development of the median line and mutated in the OBB Opitz syndrome). He then focused on identifying the mechanisms underlying rare genetic diseases, particularly regarding lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs). In this context, he made the discovery of the Multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD), in which all members of the sulphatase family (17 in humans) are deficient due to a defect in a post-translational modification. Using an innovative approach, he identified the SUMF1 (Modification Factor 1 sulphatase) gene, which is responsible for this post-translational modification and is mutated in MSD patients. It has also been shown that the overexpression of SUMF1 significantly increases the activity of exogenous sulphatase in both in vitro and in vivo models. This discovery had immediate clinical application: the SUMF1 gene is currently in use in the production of sulphatase as a tool to improve sulphatase activity for enzymatic replacement therapy.[ citation needed ]

Furthermore, among his major early discoveries, he identified and characterized the Xist gene in human and mice. [4] [5] [6]

More recently he focused his attention on lysosomes, the organelles that are responsible for cellular waste degradation. Challenging the conventional knowledge of cellular biology, he hypothesized that lysosome is a dynamic structure subjected to global transcriptional regulation and able to adapt to environmental stimuli. Together with his team, he discovered that lysosomal, autophagy, and exocytotic biosynthesis are transcriptionally regulated by a gene network and controlled by the TFEB master gene, that promote cellular clearance. This mechanism has been tested in various disease models including: Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Huntington's disease, lysosomal storage disorders, the α1-anti-trypsin deficiency and the bulbous spinal muscular atrophy. This discovery has opened up new possible therapeutic strategies based on the possibility of globally modulating lysosomal function by acting on TFEB gene network. [7]

Awards

He published 337 articles [8] in international scientific journals (with an average Impact Factor of 9,128 per item) and contributed to 21 chapters of prestigious international books such as "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine" [9] and "Molecular Bases of Inherited Disease". [10] In total, his publications have been quoted more than 30,959 times. Over the last 10 years he has been invited as speaker to more than 100 international and national conferences. [11] He has mentored many undergraduate and doctoral students. He is inventor of 7 international patents. He is a counselor at many committees of international bodies for evaluating research projects including the European Commission and the Canadian Genome Project. He is also a member of the editorial committees of numerous international scientific journals and major international scientific societies such as the European Molecular Biology Organization, the European Society of Human Genetics, the American Society of Human Genetics and many others. [12] [13]

Awards include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lysosome</span> Cell membrane organelle

A lysosome is a single membrane-bound organelle found in many animal cells. They are spherical vesicles that contain hydrolytic enzymes that digest many kinds of biomolecules. A lysosome has a specific composition, of both its membrane proteins and its lumenal proteins. The lumen's pH (~4.5–5.0) is optimal for the enzymes involved in hydrolysis, analogous to the activity of the stomach. Besides degradation of polymers, the lysosome is involved in cell processes of secretion, plasma membrane repair, apoptosis, cell signaling, and energy metabolism.

Huntington Faxon Willard is an American geneticist. In 2014, he was named to head the Marine Biological Laboratory, and is a professor in human genetics at the University of Chicago. He stepped down from leading the lab in 2017 to return to research. Willard was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016. Earlier, beginning in 2003 he was the Nanaline H. Duke Professor of Genome Sciences, the first director of the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, and Vice Chancellor for Genome Sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is a medical treatment which replaces an enzyme that is deficient or absent in the body. Usually, this is done by giving the patient an intravenous (IV) infusion of a solution containing the enzyme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucocerebrosidase</span> Mammalian protein found in humans

β-Glucocerebrosidase is an enzyme with glucosylceramidase activity that cleaves by hydrolysis the β-glycosidic linkage of the chemical glucocerebroside, an intermediate in glycolipid metabolism that is abundant in cell membranes. It is localized in the lysosome, where it remains associated with the lysosomal membrane. β-Glucocerebrosidase is 497 amino acids in length and has a molecular mass of 59,700 Da.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steroid sulfatase</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Steroid sulfatase (STS), or steryl-sulfatase, formerly known as arylsulfatase C, is a sulfatase enzyme involved in the metabolism of steroids. It is encoded by the STS gene.

Lysosomal lipase is a form of lipase which functions intracellularly, in the lysosomes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LAMP2</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Lysosome-associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP2), also known as CD107b and Mac-3, is a human gene. Its protein, LAMP2, is one of the lysosome-associated membrane glycoproteins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tripeptidyl peptidase I</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Tripeptidyl-peptidase 1, also known as Lysosomal pepstatin-insensitive protease, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the TPP1 gene, also known as CLN2. TPP1 should not be confused with the TPP1 shelterin protein which protects telomeres and is encoded by the ACD gene. Mutations in the TPP1 gene leads to late-infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CTNS (gene)</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SCARB2</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Lysosomal integral membrane protein 2 (LIMP-2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SCARB2 gene. LIMP-2 is expressed in brain, heart, liver, lung and kidney, mainly in the membrane of lysosome organelles; however, in cardiac muscle, LIMP-2 is also expressed at intercalated discs. LIMP-2 in a membrane protein in lysosomes that functions to regulate lysosomal/endosomal transport. Mutations in LIMP-2 have been shown to cause Gaucher disease, myoclonic epilepsy, and action myoclonus–renal failure syndrome. Abnormal levels of LIMP-2 have also been found in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

<i>MLX</i> (gene) Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Max-like protein X is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MLX gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TFEB</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Transcription factor EB is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TFEB gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MNT (gene)</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

MNT is a Max-binding protein that is encoded by the MNT gene

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Merla</span> Italian scientist and geneticist

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References

  1. Louis-Jeantet Prize
  2. https://www.docenti.unina.it/webdocenti-be/allegati/contenuti/27722
  3. https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prix-louis-jeantet/laureats/2016-en/andrea-ballabio/
  4. Brown, C J; Ballabio, A; Rupert, J L; Lafreniere, R G; Grompe, M; Tonlorenzi, R; Willard, R (Jan 1991). "A gene from the region of the human X inactivation centre is expressed exclusively from the inactive X chromosome". Nature. 349 (6304): 38–44. Bibcode:1991Natur.349...38B. doi:10.1038/349038a0. PMID   1985261. S2CID   4332325.
  5. Lee JT (2011). "Gracefully ageing at 50, X-chromosome inactivation becomes a paradigm for RNA and chromatin control". Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 12 (12): 815–26. doi:10.1038/nrm3231. PMID   22108600. S2CID   21881827.
  6. Borsani, Giuseppe; Tonlorenzi, Rossana; Simmler, M. Christine; Dandolo, Luisa; Arnaud, Danielle; Capra, Valeria; Grompe, Markus; Pizzuti, Antonio; Muzny, Donna; Lawrence, Charles; Willard, Huntington F.; Avner, Philip; Ballabio, Andrea (May 1991). "Characterization of a murine gene expressed from the inactive X chromosome". Nature. 351 (6324): 325–9. Bibcode:1991Natur.351..325B. doi:10.1038/351325a0. PMID   2034278. S2CID   4239301.
  7. Napolitano G, Ballabio A (July 2016). "TFEB at a glance". J. Cell Sci. 192 (13): 2475–81. doi:10.1242/jcs.146365. PMC   4958300 . PMID   27252382.
  8. Search Results for author Ballabio A on PubMed .
  9. Beaudet, A.L. & Ballabio, A. (1994) Molecular genetics and medicine. In: Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. Isselbacher, K.J., Barunwald, E., Wilson, J.D. (editors). 13 th Ed., 340-65.
  10. "The Online Metabolic and Molecular Bases of Inherited Disease - OMMBID - McGraw-Hill Medical". ommbid.mhmedical.com. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  11. "Lysosomes and Endocytosis Gordon Research Conference".
  12. "Invited Participants - Developing new dialogue". Embl.de. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  13. "European Society of Human Genetics: History". Eshg.org. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  14. https://humantechnopole.it/en/people/andrea-ballabio/
  15. "European Society of Human Genetics: Home". Eshg.org. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  16. "ERC: European Research Council". ERC: European Research Council. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  17. "2016 LOUIS-JEANTET PRIZE FOR MEDICINE" (PDF). Beyondbatten.org. Retrieved 1 October 2017.