CURRICULUM VITAE - Alessandro Rufini, PhD
CURRENT POSITION: Associate Professor at the Department of Bioscience, University “Statale” of Milan, Milan, Italy.
EDUCATION: PhD (2006, Italy) in Pharmacology and Biochemistry of Cell Death; BSc (1999, Rome) in Molecular Biology.
PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE: 9-year Lecturer and Associate Professor at the Leicester Cancer research Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK; 4-year PhD studentship in the laboratory of Professor Gerry Melino at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.; 2-year postdoctoral experience in Professor Tak W Mak’s laboratory at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, ON, Canada. 4-year Investigator Scientist in Professor Melino’s laboratory at the MRC Toxicology Unit in Leicester, UK.
EDITORIAL ACTIVITY: Associate Editor of Cell Death and Discovery and editorial board member of Frontiers in Oncology.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Skin biology, p53 family, DNA damage response, apoptosis, genetically modified mice, colorectal cancer, metabolism, circulating tumour DNA, regulation of gene expression, manipulation of gene expression.
PUBLICATIONS: Total publications: 40. H-index: 20. Cites: >1900.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
1. Alexandrou C, Al-Aqbi SS, Higgins JA, Boyle W, Karmokar A, Andreadi C, Luo JL, Moore DA, Viskaduraki M, Blades M, Murray GI, Howells LM, Thomas A, Brown K, Cheng PN, Rufini A*.
Sensitivity of Colorectal Cancer to Arginine Deprivation Therapy is Shaped by Differential Expression of Urea Cycle Enzymes.
Scientific Reports. 2018, 14;8(1):12096. *Corresponding.
2. Moe Myint NN, Verma AM, Fernandez-Garcia D, Sarmah P, Tarpey PS, Al-Aqbi SS, Cai H, Trigg R, West K, Howells LM, Thomas A, Brown K, Guttery DS, Singh B, Pringle HJ, McDermott U, Shaw JA, and Rufini A*. Circulating tumor DNA in patients with colorectal adenomas: assessment of detectability and genetic heterogeneity.
Cell Death and Disease. 2018, 9(9):894. *Corresponding.
3. Cai H*, Scott E*, Kholghi A, Andreadi C, Rufini A, Karmokar A, Britton RG, Horner-Glister E, Greaves P, Jawad D, James M, Howells L, Ognibene T, Malfatti M, Goldring C, Kitteringham N, Walsh J, Viskaduraki M, West K, Miller A, Hemingway D, Steward WP, Gescher AJ, Brown K.
Cancer chemoprevention: Evidence of a nonlinear dose response for the protective effects of resveratrol in humans and mice.
Sci Transl Med. 2015, 7(298):298ra117. *Equal contribution.
4. Agostini M, Niklison-Chirou MV, Catani MV, Knight RA, Melino G, Rufini A*.
TAp73 promotes anti-senescence-anabolism not proliferation.
Aging (Albany NY). 2014, 6(11):921-30. * Corresponding
5. Amelio I, Antonov AA, Catani MV, Massoud R, Bernassola F, Knight RA, Melino G, Rufini A*.
TAp73 promotes anabolism.
Oncotarget. 2014, 5(24):12820-934. *Corresponding
6. Rufini A, Niklison-Chirou MV, Inoue S, Tomasini R, Harris IA, Dinsdale D, Marini A, Federici M, Dinsdale D, Knight RA, Melino G, Mak TW.
TAp73 depletion accelerates aging through metabolic dysregulation.
Genes Dev. 2012, 26(18):2009-14.
7. Wilhelm MT, Rufini A, Wetzel MK, Tsuchihara K, Tomasini R, Itie-Youten A, Wakeham A, Kaplan DR, Miller FD, Mak TW.
Isoform-specific p73 knockout mice reveal a novel role for delta Np73 in the DNA damage response pathway.
Genes Dev. 2010, 24(6):549-60.
8. Tomasini R, Tsuchihara K, Wilhelm M, Fujitani M, Rufini A, Cheung CC, Khan F, Itie-Youten A, Wakeham A, Tsao MS, Iovanna JL, Squire J, Jurisica I, Kaplan D, Melino G, Jurisicova A, Mak TW.
TAp73 knockout shows genomic instability with infertility and tumor suppressor functions.
Genes Dev. 2008, 22(19):2677-91.
9. Candi E, Rufini A, Terrinoni A, Giamboi-Miraglia A, Lena AM, Mantovani R, Knight R, Melino G.
DeltaNp63 regulates thymic development through enhanced expression of FgfR2 and Jag2.
Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2007, 104(29):11999-2004.
10. Candi E, Rufini A, Terrinoni A, Dinsdale D, Ranalli M, Paradisi A, De Laurenzi V, Spagnoli LG, Catani MV, Ramadan S, Knight RA, Melino G.
Differential roles of p63 isoforms in epidermal development: selective genetic complementation in p63 null mice.
Cell Death Differ. 2006, 13(6):1037-47.
SELECTED REVIEWS:
1. Rufini A*, Melino G.
Cell death pathology: the war against cancer.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2011, Oct 28; 414(3):445-50. * Corresponding.
2. Rufini A, Tucci P, Celardo I, Melino G.
Senescence an Aging: the critical role of p53.
Oncogene. 2013, 32(43):5129-43.
3. Burke L, Guterman I, Palacios Gallego R, Britton R, Burschowsky D, Tufarelli C, Rufini A.
The Janus-like role of Proline Metabolism in Cancer.
Cell Death Discov. 2020, 6:104.