Danilo Milardi, MD PhD

JAD profile

Affiliation(s): 

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Lab URL: 

http://www.ibb.cnr.it/

ORCID URL: 

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3940-9439

Areas of Interest: 

molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, neurodegeneration, small molecule mimetics

Biography & Research: 

Dr. Danilo Milardi Position title Researcher, Institute of Biostructures and Bioimages (National Research Council) IBB-CNR, Catania, Italy. Education 1986-1992Degree in Industrial Chemistry, University of Catania, Italy 1993-1996PhD in Physical Chemistry, University of Catania, Italy Career 1996-2001 Research collaborator, Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Catania, Italy. From December 3th to April 15th 1997 he participated, as a collaborator, to a MIUR research project entitled "Characterization by computer simulations of the thermodinamic parameters relative to the phase transition liquid gel-crystal of biological membranes”. In September 1997 he obtained a fellowship of University of Catania in collaboration with Cyanamid S.p.A. for the optimization of an industrial production process. In May 1999 he obtained a post-doc position at the University of Catania. From July 5th to Sept 5th 2001 he participated to a MIUR research project entitled: “Lipid/peptide interactions in a liquid-crystalline environment by means of calorimetric measurements”. During the academic years 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 he has a contract as professor of Physical-Chemistry at the University of Catania. 2001-presentResearcher, Institute of Biostructures and Bioimages (National Research Council) IBB-CNR, Catania, Italy. Research interests: i) experimental and theoretical methods to study protein stability, and to characterize how environmental factors (e.g. lipid membranes and metal ions) may promote protein misfolding/aggregation; ii) role played by environmental factors (e.g metal ions) in causing the derangement of the Ubiquitin Proteasome System. Ongoing projects and funding sources: 1) FIRB-RBPR05JH2P- National Research Network on Nanosciences - ItalNanoNet (Ministry of University and Research). Possible overlaps: some drug delivery methods based on nanoparticles developed within this project may be usefully exploited for the molecules synthesized for MOVERS. 2) FIRB-MERIT -RBNE08HWLZ – Molecular basis of age-related neurodegenerative disorders (Ministry of University and Research). Possible overlaps: Amyloid aggregation studies, antiaggregating compounds, metal-based proteolytic enzymes, Ubiquitin and proteasome activity studies. 3) PON-2007-2013 – Identification of biomarkers and development of diagnostic and therapeutic methods in the area of oncology and vascular biology (Ministry of University and Research). Possible overlaps: mass spectrometry methods and facilities for the identification of the end-products of proteolytic cleavage of amyloids and polyubiquitinated substrates. 4) In cooperation with University of Catania. PRIN 2010-2011 Metal Ions in Age-related Diseases: Metallostasis and Proteostasis Interplay in Neurodegeneration. (Ministry of University and Research). Possible overlaps: amyloid clearance by proteolytic enzymes, metal chelating therapeutic compounds, ubiquitination assays. 5) Participation as a partner to the project COFUND for a doctoral international training program submitted by the Department of Biomedical Sciences CNR, 2014, pending. Management activity: 1. He is the scientific coordinator of the training plan (budget 540.000 euros) associated to the public-private Lab CNR-Wyeth Lederle n° DM20919, financially supported by MIUR for the training of 7 researchers in the field of biotechnological and pharmaceutical research. 2. He is the coordinator of a RSTL research project financially supported by CNR entitled: “The role of anisotropy on the membrane-peptide interactions involved in the mechanisms of misfolding” (budget 40.000 euros). 3. He has coordinated a research project entitled: “MD simulations of the early steps of Islet Amyloid Polypeptide (IAPP) aggregation: molecular routes to Type 2 Diabetes pathogenesis” approved on May, 27th 2008 for the use of 8000 SPTE computational resources of CASPUR-Rome. 4. He has coordinated a research project entitled: “Can the membrane microenvironment improve the design of G-Protein Coupled receptors (GCPR) ligands? GPCR ligand design based on homology modeling and long-time molecular dynamics simulations in an explicit membrane” approved on March, 25th 2011 for the use of 30000 SPTE computational resources of CASPUR-Rome. 5. He has coordinated a research project entitled: “Molecular Dynamics of VDACs:unraveling the bioenergetic metabolism of the cell” approved on March, 19th 2012 for the use of 99018 SPTE computational resources of CASPUR-Rome. 6. He was member of the organizing committee of the 8th National Meeting of the Italian Liquid Crystal Society. He is author of 65 papers published on peer-reviewed journals. 7. He is responsible of the module PM.P01.003.002: Design and synthesis of new bioactive compunds and their target-specific delivery. Editorial activity 1 Book: Neurodegeneration: Metallostasis and Proteostasis, (Eds: D. Milardi and E. Rizzarelli), The Royal Society of Chemistry, Drug Discovery Series (UK) 2010. 2. He is Managing Guest Editor of the Special Issue - Molecular Dynamics: New Advances in Drug Discovery” to be published in: European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Elsevier, 2014-2015. He is currently referee of CINECA FIRB research projects. Bibliometric parameters. Citations Total 855 In the last ten years: 455 H index: 18 H index calculated in the last 10 years: 12 i-10 (number of paper with at least 10 citations): 29 i-10 calculated in the last ten years: 17