DEL SAL GIANNINO

Prof. Giannino Del Sal Date of birth: September 14, 1959. Place of birth: S.Michele al Tagliamento (Venice)-Italy. Married. Gianni Del Sal obtained his degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Trieste during 1984. He worked, during 1987, as postdoctoral fellow at EMBL-Cell differentiation program on the identification of growth arrest specific genes (GAS genes). From 1988 to 1992 he continued his studies on the negative control of cell proliferation trough the study of the product of the growth arrest specific gene Gas1 first as postdoctoral fellow and later as associate expert at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste. During 1994 /1995 as visiting scientist he joined the Mitotix Inc. Cambridge (MA) where he collaborated on the studies on the degradation of the kinase inhibitor p27. Since 1996 he is head of the unit "Molecular Oncology" at Laboratorio Nazionale C.I.B in Trieste. Now he is full professor of Biology at the University of Trieste Medical School. Scientific Achievements: Dr. G. Del Sal gave very important contributions to the characterization of growth arrest specific genes (gas-genes) (Cell 1992,PNAS, 1994, Mol Cell Biol 1995). The focus of his research has been oriented on the regulation of the p53 tumor suppressor and p73 pathways. He discovered new post-translational modifications and sub-cellular localization of p53 (EMBO J. 1999 & EMBO J 2000), and new mechanism of regulating p53 and p73 checkpoint functions upon genotoxic stress involving the action of a phosphorylation dependent prolyl-isomerase Pin1 (Nature 2002, Mol Cell 2004, Nat.Struct.Mol.Biol.2007). He recently identified a key role played by Pin1 in regulating the activation of the Notch signaling pathway with important effects on breast cancer development (Nat.Cell. Biol. 2008 in press). He also identified small peptide aptamers able to specifically inhibit the function of mutant p53 in cancer cells (Cancer Res. 2008). University Assignments. Since 2007 Director of the PhD School of Molecular Biomedicine at the University of Trieste. Membership: -Member of Editorial Board of EMBO J. and EMBO Reports. (Since 2009) -Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the PhD School in Biomedicine –University of Padova-Italy. (Since 2008) -Member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of Istituto Toscano Tumori (ITT) Firenze-Italy (since 2006). -Member of the Scientific Board of the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) Milan -Italy (since 2004). -Member of the Directory Board, Association for Cell Biology and Differentiation. (ABCD) (2005-2007) -Member of the Scientific Board of the Consortium of Molecular Biomedicine. Area Science Park-Trieste-ITALY. (2004-2006) HONORS: EMBO member elected (since 2006). Patents: PCT/EP 2008/05010: “Peptides and aptamers thereof as specific modulators of mutant p53function.” G. Del Sal, E. Guida, A. Bisso. Activity as reviewer: Nature, Nature Cell Biology, Science, Nature Reviews on Molecular cell Biology, J.Cell Biology, EMBO J, EMBO Reports, Oncogene, J. of Cell Science; Cell Death Diff. Fields of Interest: Apoptosis, Cell cycle, regulation of p53 and p53 family network, signal transduction