Gianluca SBARDELLA | Curriculum

Degree/Qualification
Oct 1988 - Jul 1993: Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, summa cum laude, University of Rome ''La Sapienza'', Italy;
Nov 1993 - Nov 1996: Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry, University of Rome ''La Sapienza'', Italy;

Employment (present and previous positions held)
Jan 1997 - Dec 1997: CNR (Italian National Research Center) Research Fellow, Drug Chemistry Center, University of Rome, Italy;
Jan 1998 - Dec 1999: Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) - Italian National Institute of Health Research Fellow, Medicinal Chemistry Department, Rome, Italy;
Jan 2000 - Mar 2000: Italian Pasteur Institute “Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti” Research Fellow, Medicinal Chemistry Department, University of Rome, Italy;
Apr 2000 - Aug 2000: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Rome ''La Sapienza'', Italy;
Sep 2000 - Feb 2001: Research Associate, University of Siena, Italy;
Mar 2001 - Sep 2002: Assistant Professor, University of Salerno, Italy;
Oct 2002 – Apr 2016: Associate Professor, University of Salerno, Italy;
May 2016 – today: Full Professor, University of Salerno, Italy;

Jan 2004 - Dec 2004: Visiting professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (USA), in the group of Michael E. Jung;
May 2005 - today: Head of Epigenetic Med Chem Lab, University of Salerno, Italy;
Jun 2011 - Nov 2013: Director of Ph.D. Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy;
Feb 2012 - 2020: Member of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Commission of the University of Salerno, University of Salerno, Italy;
Oct 2012 - Jun 2014: Italian representative MC substitute-COST TD0905 "Epigenetics: bench to bedside", European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)
Jan 2013 – Dec 2015: Member of the Board of the European School of Medicinal Chemistry (ESMEC)
Nov 2013 – Mar 2022: Director of Ph.D. Program in Drug Discovery and Development, University of Salerno, Italy;
Nov 2014 - 2020: Member of Action Group A3 “Prevention of functional decline and frailty” of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium
Mar 2015 – Apr 2019: Italian representative MC member - COST EPICHEM (CM1406, Epigenetic chemical biology), European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)
Jan 2016 – Dec 2018: Executive Committee Member of the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society (DCF-SCI)
Apr 2016 – Apr 2020: Italian representative MC substitute member - COST Action CA15135 - Multi-target paradigm for innovative ligand identification in the drug discovery process (MuTaLig)
Apr 2016 – Apr 2020: Italian representative MC substitute member - COST Action CA15126 - Between Atom and Cell: Integrating Molecular Biophysics Approaches for Biology and Healthcare (MOBIEU)
May 2017 - 2022: Italian National Representative in Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI 2), a partnership between the European Union (represented by the European Commission) and the European pharmaceutical industry (represented by EFPIA, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations).
April 2018 – December 2019: International Advisory Board member, ChemMedChem
Sept 2018 - present: Member of the Best Practices in medicinal Chemistry Group of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC)
October 2018 – 2022: Vice Rector for International Relations of the University of Salerno
January 2019 – 2021: President of the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society
Jan 2019 - 2020: Council Member of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC)
Jan 2020 – present: Editorial Board member, ChemMedChem
Nov 2020 – today: member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Chemical Probes Portal
Dec 2020 - today: Member of the Chemical Biology Working Group of EFMC
Jan 2021 - today: Executive Committee member of EFMC
Jan 2023 - today: Member and Secretary of the Executive Committee of EFMC
2023–2025: Member of the Permanent Scientific Board of the Italian Chemical Society
2022 - 2024 Past President of the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society
Nov 2023 – present: Director of Ph.D. Program in Drug Discovery and Development, University of Salerno, Italy;
Jan 2024 – present: Editorial Advisory Board member, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Jan 2024 – present: Chair of the Editorial Board, ChemMedChem
Dec 2024 - present: Head of the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Salerno

Awards
1994: Italian Pasteur Institute “Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti” Award;
1995: Italian Federation of Chemical Industry (Federchimica) Award; 1998: Italian Pasteur Institute “Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti” Award;
2008: Farmindustria Italian National Award for Research Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry
2019: Golden Seal of the Italian Chemical Society (società Chimica Italiana)


Teaching
Medicinal Chemistry, Drug design and development, Pharmaceutical Analysis, Receptor Chemistry.

Grants awarded
• Framework Program 6 (2004) project LSHP-CT-2004-503162 "Selection and Development of Microbicides for Mucosal Use to Prevent Sexual HIV Transmission/Acquisition"
• MIUR PRIN 2009PX2T2E_003 "Design and synthesis of small molecule modulators of the activity of arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) and DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) as novel antitumoral agents" - Research Unit scientific coordinator
• MIUR PRIN 2012ZHN9YH_003 "Nuovi agenti antitumorali all'interfaccia tra epigenetica e metabolismo - Research Unit scientific coordinator
• MIUR PRIN 20152TE5PK_003 "Epitargeting of Acute Myeloid Leukemia: a Synergistic Multidisciplinary Approach" - Research Unit scientific coordinator
• MIUR PRIN 2020CW39SJ_003 " Mechanistic understanding of NADPH oxidases and their roles in ROS biology" - Research Unit scientific coordinator
• NP CONV Italy ERDF 2007-2013 project PONa3_00138 (2011) "Centro Integrato di Tecnologie per la Salute" - Executive Committee Member
• NOP CONV Italy ERDF 2007-2013 project PON 01_01499 (2011) "Recupero e Valorizzazione dei prodotti di scarto e di trasformazione dell'industria agro-alimentare per lo sviluppo di alimenti funzionali, prodotti cosmeceutici e nutraceutici innovativi. Hi-Life-Health Products from the Industry of Food" - Scientific Committee Member
• ROP Campania ERDF 2007-2013 - Campus per Progetti di ricerca industriale e sviluppo sperimentale (2012) project "SALUS PER LACTEM: Prodotti salutistici e valorizzazione della filiera lattiero-casearia salernitana attraverso lo sviluppo di una rete integrata multisensoriale" - Scientific Committe Member
• ROP Campania ERDF 2007-2013 OBIETTIVO OPERATIVO 2.1 - Realizzazione della rete delle biotecnologie in Campania "Rete integrata per le biotecnologie applicate a molecole ad attività farmacologica – FARMABIONET" – Scientific Coordinator for the University of Salerno
• University of Salerno funding FARB 2006-2020 – Principal Investigator
• ROP Campania ERDF 2017-2020 “Campania Oncotherapies” - Scientific Coordinator for the University of Salerno
• PNRR COC-1-2023-CNR “Preparedness Against Newly-emerging Viruses: Innovations in Research, Intervention, and Drug Evolution” - Scientific Coordinator for the University of Salerno
• PNRR PNRR-POC-2023-12376976 “Exploiting a Xanthinic Scaffold for HSP90 Inhibitors: Targeting Inflammaging and Cellular Senescence” - Scientific Coordinator for the University of Salerno

Research
The expertise of prof. Sbardella regards most aspects of epigenetic Drug Discovery, spanning synthetic strategies, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, biophysical techniques. He is the Head of the Epigenetic Med Chem Lab (EMCL), a multi-disciplinary research team whose mission is the study of protein targets responsible (directly or indirectly) of epigenetic modifications (KATs, KMTs, DNMTs, PRMTs, KDMs, bromodomain, MBT, Tudor) or of proteins regulated by epigenetic processes (e.g. LINE-1 RT).
EMCL collaborates with biologists on fundamental functional chromatin biology and on various other pathophysiological pathways (diabetes, synaptic plasticity, wound healing; Duchenne cardiomyopathy), with medical doctors (oncology, parasitology, neuropsychiatry, cardiology) and pharmacologists for animal models, with microbiologists (phenotypic studies), with biochemists (MS proteomics), with molecular biologists (ligand-protein complex structure) and biophysicists (studies of binding interactions):
• Mark T. Bedford - University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, TX, USA
• Vidya Gopalakrishnan - University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, TX, USA
• Xiaodong Cheng - University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, TX, USA
• Steve Clarke – University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, CA, USA
• Wei Xu – University of Wisconsin Madison, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, WI, USA
• Ronen Marmorstein - University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, PA, USA
• Garland R. Marshall - Washington University, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, MO, USA
• Li Gan - University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Gladstone Institute of Neurological Diseases, CA, USA
• Georges Mer - Mayo Clinic, MN, USA
• Danny Reinberg –New York University School of Medicine-Smilow Research Center, New York, NY, USA
• Patrick Trojer, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA
• Boyer Winters - Guelph University, Ontario, Canada
• Jose L. Medina-Franco - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Department of Pharmacy, Mexico
• Minoru Yoshida - Chemical Genomics Research Group, RIKEN, Wako, Japan
• Haitao Li - Tsinghua University, School of Medicine, P.R.China
• Timothy Bredy - Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Australia
• Ryszard Maleszka - Australian National University, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Canberra, Australia
• Danny Rangasamy - Australian National University, Epigenetics and Genome Stability lab, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra, Australia
• Gerald Brosch – Biocenter-Innsbruck Medical University, Austria
• Oliver Kappe – University of Graz, AustriaStefan Kubicek – CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Wien, Austria
• Frank Lyko – Division of Epigenetics, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
• Clarissa Gerhäuser - Epigenomics and Cancer Risk Factors, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
• Rolf W. Hartmann – Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany.
• Axel Imhof - Adolf-Butenandt Institute Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
• Carlo Gaetano - Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Manfred Jung - Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany
• Albert Jeltsch - Universität Stuttgart, Germany
• Pier Vincenzo Piazza – Fluofarma, Pessac, France.
• Jean Cavarelli - IGBMC - CNRS UMR 7104 - Inserm U 964, Strasbourg, France
• Paola B. Arimondo, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• Manel Esteller, IDIBELL Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain
• Eva Bartova, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
• Nathaniel Martin, Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands
• Helena Danielson, Uppsala University, Sweden
• Panagis Filippakopoulos, University of Oxford, UK
• Alessio Ciulli, University of Dundee, UK
• Akane Kawamura, University of Newcastle, UK
• Olga Piskareva, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Dublin, Ireland
• Antonello Mai – Sapienza Università di Roma
• Rino Ragno – Sapienza Università di Roma
• Patrizia Filetici – Sapienza Università di Roma
• Corrado Spadafora- Istituto di Farmacologia Traslazionale, CNR, Roma
• Dr. Patrizia Lavia – Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari, CNR, Roma
• Lucia Altucci – Università della Campania ”Luigi Vanvitelli”
• Sandro Cosconati – Università della Campania ”Luigi Vanvitelli”
• Gennaro Ciliberto – Istituto Nazionale Tumori Regina Elena, Roma
• Andrea Mattevi – Università di Pavia
• Federico Da Settimo – Università di Pisa, Italy
• Stefano Moro – Università di Padova, Italy
• Giampiero Spalluto – Università di Trieste, Italy

prof. Sbardella led many drug discovery projects aimed to developing chemical probes (inhibitors and/or activators) for different epi-enzymes as well as modulators of protein-protein interactions, taking advantage of a multiple approach combining synthetic organic chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, chemical biology, biochemistry and biophysics (surface plasmon resonance, differential scanning fluorimetry, isothermal titration calorimetry, microscale thermophoresis, microfluidic mobility shift assays).
He is Author of 125 papers on high-impact international MedChem journals, 7 book chapters, 1 book, 3 patents (PCT) and over 150 communications in international congresses, comprising 40 invited lectures.

Track-Record (20 March 2025)
(i) ISI Web of Science
H-index: 39; Number of publications: 106; Total citations: 3929. Average number of citations per publication: 37.07
(ii) Scopus
H-index: 38; Number of publications: 113; Total citations: 4297. Average number of citations per publication: 38.02
(iii) Google Scholar
H-index: 43 (23 since 2020); Total citations: 5729 (1785 since 2020). See https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FG7zPywAAAAJ&hl=en
http://docenti.unisa.it/005059/ricerca/pubblicazioni

Two antiviral compounds developed by prof. Sbardella (against Rhinoviruses and HIV-1, respectively) reached clinical phase II.
One of his patents (Danny Reinberg, Patrick Trojer, Gianluca Sbardella (2007) Selective inhibitors for transferases. PCT Int. Appl. WO 2007149782. University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey. Application: WO 2007-US71351 20070615. Priority: US 2006-815962 20060623. CAN 148:100392 AN 2007:1469212 CAPLUS) was part of the portfolio of the start-up company EpigenetiX Inc. that in 2008 turned into Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(Cambridge, MA, USA), a company that leverages insights from the rapidly expanding field of epigenetics to discover and develop small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory/immunologic disorders, and other diseases.

Member of:
Italian Chemical Society (SCI) - Medicinal Chemistry Division;
European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC);
American Chemical Society (ACS) - Medicinal Chemistry Division;
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) - Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector (BMCS);
Epigenetics Society;
International Chemical Biology Society.

Reviewing activity
1) funding agencies
Research Grant Reviewer for "Health, Welfare and Food Bureau" of Hong Kong government (Taiwan);
Research Grant Reviewer for the Division for Chemical Sciences (CW) of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
Research Grant Reviewer for the French National Research Agency.
Research Grant Reviewer for the National Science Center, Poland.
Research Grant Reviewer for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
Research Grant Reviewer for the Health Research Board (HRB), Ireland.
Research Grant Reviewer for the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI), Romania
Research Grant Reviewer for the Czech Science Foundation (Grantová agentura Ceské republiky – GACR).
Research Grant Reviewer for the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFCA) of the Republic of Latvia.
Research Grant Reviewer for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Research Grant Reviewer for the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM), France.

2) scientific journals
ACS Central Science
ACS Chemical Biology
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
ACS Infectious Diseases
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
ACS Omega
ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science
Agri Gene
Angewandte Chimie International Edition
Archiv der Pharmazie
BBA - Gene regulatory mechanisms
BBA – General Subjects
Biochemistry
Biochimie
Biochimie Open
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Bioscience Reports
Brain Research
Cell Chemical Biology
Cell Reports Physical Science
ChemBioChem
Chemical Biology & Drug Design
Chemical Reviews
Chemistry, a European Journal
Chemistry and Biodiversity
Chemistry Select
ChemMedChem
Clinical Epigenetics
Drug Discovery Today
Epigenetics
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
European Journal of Pharmacology
Gene
Gene Reports
Heliyon
Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Journal of Peptide Science
Journal of Proteomics
Laboratory Investigation
Medicinal Chemistry
Medicinal Chemistry Communications
Medicinal Chemistry Research
Molecular Diversity
Nature Chemical Biology
Nature Communications
PLoS One
Philosophical Transactions B
PNAS
RSC Chemical Biology
RSC Medicinal Chemistry
Scientific Reports
Tetrahedron Letters
The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology
The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology