Prisca Liberali

Last updated
Prisca Liberali
Prisca Liberali at the Human Cell Atlas Computational Methods meeting.jpg
Liberali presents at the Human Cell Atlas Computational Methods meeting in 2017
Born
Alma materMario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research
Sapienza University of Rome
Open University (PhD)
Awards EMBO Gold Medal (2022)
EMBO Member (2022)
Scientific career
Institutions Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
ETH Zurich
University of Basel
Thesis Mechanisms regulating the dual function of CtBP3/BARS in mammal cell membrane fission and transcription  (2008)
Website liberalilab.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Prisca Liberali is an Italian chemist who is a senior group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research. [1] Her research takes a systems biology approach to understand the behaviour of multi-cellular systems. She was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal and EMBO Membership in 2022.

Contents

Early life and education

Liberali was born in Belgium, and grew up between Belgium and Luxembourg. [2] Her parents worked for the European Union. She attended the Sapienza University of Rome, where she studied physical organic chemistry. [2] She moved to the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, where she worked toward a doctorate in cell biology with Daniela Corda. Her doctorate looked at the mechanisms that regulate the function of the carboxy-terminal binding protein 3/brefeldin A-ribosylated substrate (CtBP3/BARS) in the membrane fission of mammal cells and was awarded by the Open University. [3] Her PhD used high-contrast screening and mapping of genetics interactions. [2]

Research and career

After her PhD, Liberali then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zurich.[ citation needed ]

In 2015, Liberali was made an assistant professor at the University of Basel. She was simultaneously appointed a group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, where she was made Senior Group Leader in 2021. [4]

Liberali makes use of a systems biology approach to understand tissue organisation. [5] She is interested in the collective properties of multi-cellular systems and how their properties arise from the behaviour of individual cells. [6] With this information, Liberali looks to understand cell reprogramming and disease. [7] Her early work considered intestinal organoids [8] and how they develop from stem cells. [9] [10]

In June 2022, Liberali was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal by the European Molecular Biology Organization. [11] She was awarded EMBO Membership in 2022. [12]

Awards and honours

Selected publications

Her publications [1] [5] include:

Personal life

Liberali is married with two children. [2] Her husband is Dutch and her children can speak five languages. [2] She has said that her guiding advice for someone about to start their own laboratory is "Sometimes good ideas need time, and the courage to just try them.". [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Miescher</span> Swiss biochemist (1843-1895)

Johannes Friedrich Miescher was a Swiss physician and biologist. He was the first scientist to isolate nucleic acid in 1869. Miescher also identified protamine and made several other discoveries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Basel</span> Public university in Basel, Switzerland

The University of Basel is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universities. The university is traditionally counted among the leading institutions of higher learning in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Molecular Biotechnology</span> Austrian biomedical research organisation

The Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) is an independent biomedical research organisation founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The institute employs around 250 people from over 40 countries, who perform basic research. IMBA is located at the Vienna BioCenter (VBC) and shares facilities and scientific training programs with the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), the basic research center of Boehringer Ingelheim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research</span> Facility in Basel, Switzerland

The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) is a biomedical research institute founded in 1970. Based in Basel, Switzerland, the FMI is affiliated with the University of Basel and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). It is named after Friedrich Miescher. As of 2021, the FMI has around 340 collaborators, of which 20 are research group leaders, over 80 are postdoctoral collaborators and over 80 are postgraduate students participating in the FMI International PhD Program. The FMI is directed by Dirk Schübeler.

Brian Arthur Hemmings FRS is a British biochemist, and Senior Group Leader, at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research. He is a member of the Faculty of 1000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erich Nigg</span> Swiss cell biologist

Erich Nigg is a Swiss cell biologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Spang</span> German biochemist, cell biologist, and professor

Anne Spang is a German Biochemist/Cell Biologist and Professor at the Biozentrum University of Basel, Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvia Arber</span> Swiss neurobiologist

Silvia Arber is a Swiss neurobiologist. She teaches and researches at both the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel Switzerland.

Barbara HohnForMemRS is an Austrian molecular biologist, particularly known for her research into the Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

The EMBO Gold Medal is an annual award of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) given to young scientists for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. Laureates receive a medal and €10,000 and are invited to receive the award and present their research at the annual EMBO Meeting and to write a review published in The EMBO Journal. Medallists can only be nominated by EMBO Members.

Susan M. Gasser is a Swiss molecular biologist. From 2004 to 2019 she was the director of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland, where she also led a research group from 2004 until 2021. She was in parallel professor of molecular biology at the University of Basel until April 2021. Since January 2021, Susan Gasser is director of the ISREC Foundation, which supports translational cancer research. She is also professor invité at the University of Lausanne in the department of fundamental microbiology. She is an expert in quantitative biology and studies epigenetic inheritance and genome stability. Recipient of multiple swiss and European awards, she was named member of the US Academy of Sciences in 2022.

Ruth Chiquet-Ehrismann was a Swiss biochemist and cell biologist working on interactions in the extracellular matrix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melissa Little</span> Australian scientist and academic (born 1963)

Melissa Helen Little is an Australian scientist and academic, currently Theme Director of Cell Biology, heading up the Kidney Regeneration laboratory at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. She is also a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, and Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia. In January 2022, she became CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine reNEW, an international stem cell research center based at University of Copenhagen, and a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia, and Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands.

Vivian Li is a Hong Kong-born cell and developmental biologist working in cancer research at London's Francis Crick Institute. She has been researching how stem cells in the human bowel are programmed to ensure a healthy organ and what goes wrong when cancer develops. She is known for her work on the Wnt signalling pathway, discovering a new way that a molecule called Wnt is activated in bowel cancer. She won a Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize in part for this discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabelle Mansuy</span> Neuroscientist

Isabelle M. Mansuy is a professor in neuroepigenetics in the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich and the Department of Health Science and Technology of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. She is known for her work on the mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance in relation to childhood trauma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dirk Schübeler</span> German molecular biology researcher (born 1969)

Dirk Schübeler is a German researcher, Director of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) and professor at the University of Basel. He is an expert in gene regulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolas H. Thomä</span> German structural and chemical biologist

Nicolas H. Thomä is a German researcher, full professor at the EPFL School of Life Sciences and Director of the Paternot Chair for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is a biochemist and structural biologist and a leading researcher in the fields of ubiquitin ligase biology and DNA repair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paola Picotti</span> Italian biologist and academic

Paola Picotti is an Italian biochemist who is Professor for Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zürich. She is Deputy Head of the Institute for Molecular Systems Biology. Her research investigates how the conformational changes of proteins impact molecular networks with cells. She received numerous awarded awards, among which the 2019 EMBO Gold Medal.

Sophie Geneviève Elisabeth Martin Benton is a Swiss biologist who is Professor and Director of the Department of Fundamental Microbiology at the University of Lausanne. Her research investigates the molecular processes that underpin cellular fusion. She was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal in 2014.

Meritxell Huch is a stem cell biologist and director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. Her research considers tissue regeneration and the development of tissue-specific disease models for human organs. She was awarded a European Research Council Consolidator Grant in 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 Prisca Liberali publications from Europe PubMed Central
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Cell scientist to watch – Prisca Liberali". Journal of Cell Science. 133 (10): jcs246272. 15 May 2020. doi: 10.1242/jcs.246272 . S2CID   219200956.
  3. Liberali, Prisca (2008). Mechanisms regulating the dual function of CtBP3/BARS in mammal cell membrane fission and transcription (PhD thesis). Open University. OCLC   500299520. EThOS   446099 ProQuest   301737291.
  4. FMI. "FMI - Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research - Prisca Liberali". fmi.ch. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  5. 1 2 Prisca Liberali publications indexed by Google Scholar OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  6. "Green light for 321 projects on self-chosen topics". Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) (in German). Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  7. FMI. "FMI - Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research - Prisca Liberali". fmi.ch. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  8. "Leaders of the Field Discuss Advances in Organoid Applications". stemcell.com. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  9. "Don't be afraid, be bold - Interview with Prisca Liberali". Life Innovation Blog. 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  10. Lukonin, Ilya; Zinner, Marietta; Liberali, Prisca (October 2021). "Organoids in image-based phenotypic chemical screens". Experimental & Molecular Medicine. 53 (10): 1495–1502. doi:10.1038/s12276-021-00641-8. PMC   8569209 . PMID   34663938.
  11. "Prisca is awarded the EMBO Gold Medal!". The Liberali Lab. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  12. "EMBO elects 67 new members and associate members – Press releases – EMBO". 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  13. FMI. "FMI - Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research - Prisca Liberali". fmi.ch. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  14. "Liberali | Basel Stem Cell Network". baselstemcells.ch. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  15. "Prof. Prisca Liberali - AcademiaNet". academia-net.org. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  16. "ERC FUNDED PROJECTS".
  17. "Prisca becomes an EMBO Young Investigator". The Liberali Lab. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  18. FMI. "Prisca Liberali becomes an EMBO Young Investigator". fmi.ch. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  19. "Prisca Liberali awarded Friedrich Miescher Award". unibas.ch. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  20. "Prisca Liberali awarded EMBO Gold Medal 2022 – Press releases – EMBO". 2022-06-24. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  21. "Prisca Liberali awarded EMBO Gold Medal 2022". unibas.ch. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  22. Seeing is believing: Meet Prisca Liberali , retrieved 2022-07-15
  23. Berend Snijder; Raphael Sacher; Pauli Rämö; Eva-Maria Damm; Prisca Liberali; Lucas Pelkmans (26 August 2009). "Population context determines cell-to-cell variability in endocytosis and virus infection". Nature . 461 (7263): 520–523. doi:10.1038/NATURE08282. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   19710653. Wikidata   Q39807636.
  24. Denise Serra; Urs Mayr; Andrea Boni; et al. (24 April 2019). "Self-organization and symmetry breaking in intestinal organoid development". Nature . 569 (7754): 66–72. doi:10.1038/S41586-019-1146-Y. ISSN   1476-4687. PMC   6544541 . PMID   31019299. Wikidata   Q90284285.
  25. Prisca Liberali; Elina Kakkonen; Gabriele Turacchio; et al. (20 March 2008). "The closure of Pak1-dependent macropinosomes requires the phosphorylation of CtBP1/BARS". The EMBO Journal . 27 (7): 970–981. doi:10.1038/EMBOJ.2008.59. ISSN   0261-4189. PMC   2323256 . PMID   18354494. Wikidata   Q30481720.