Fabrizio DAL PIAZ | Curriculum

Associate Professor in Biochemistry at the Department of Medicine, surgery and dentistry, University of Salerno.

STUDIES:

Degree in Chemistry achieved at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University “Federico II” of Naples, on 1997, vote 110/110 cum laude.

PhD in Chemistry received in 2002 from the University “Federico II” of Naples discussing a thesis entitled “Conformational analysis of protein and protein complexes”.

WORKING EXPERIENCES:

March 2006 - November 2019: University Researcher at the Departments of Pharmacy (from 2006 to 2015) and Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry of the "Salerno Medical School" (2015-2019) of the University of Salerno

May 2004 - February 2006: Research fellow at DiFrama dal, to develop and manage a research project on the metabolome and proteome of Salvia ssp plants.

March 2002 - April 2004: he held the position of scientific manager of the "Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Laboratory" of the Interdepartmental Center for Biotechnological Research of the University of Bologna.

In 2000: he spent a period of study at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon (France) under the guidance of Professor Marlin Friesen, for the development of a method for the analysis of genetic polymorphisms by mass spectrometry .

RESEARCH:

The research activity of Prof Dal Piaz focuses on three main themes:

-: identification and structural analysis of proteins involved in pathological processes. These studies are conducted on purified proteins, through biochemical approaches coupled with analytical techniques and mass spectrometry, and on complex samples (lysates of cells or tissues), through the use of proteomic investigation strategies.

-: study of the interaction between bioactive natural compounds and target proteins. The investigation is aimed at identifying the molecular targets of action of pharmacologically active natural compounds, through chemical proteomics approaches. It also provides for the study of drug-protein complexes in terms of stoichiometry, thermodynamic stability, interaction regions and conformational variations induced on the protein by the drug binding.

-: measurement of the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of biologically active substances (drugs and toxic agents) in humans, through studies on fluids and tissues

prof. Dal Piaz has excellent expertise in mass spectrometry techniques applied to the study of small molecules, proteins and protein complexes and has good experience in approaches to proteomic investigation. He has a high knowledge of spectrometric techniques for the study of molecular interactions (surface plasmon resonance, circular dichroism) and classic biochemical methods for the analysis of proteins.

In over twenty years of work in the field of research, prof. Dal Piaz has produced more than 140 publications published in important international scientific journals and around 200 congress communications.

He is referee for several international journal such as Rapid Communication in Mass Spectrometry, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis and Phytochemistry.