PhD in MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

email: falconi@uniroma2.it
phone: 06.7259.4025
building: Sogene
room: 373

Prof. Mattia Falconi Curriculum Vitae

Personal data:
Born in Rome on 30/03/1963.

Current address: University of Tor Vergata, Department of Biology, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. Studio phone: +39.06.72594025; Laboratory: +39.06.72594326; e-mail: falconi@uniroma2.it

Academic and educational qualifications:
- 1987 - Degree in Biological Sciences 110/110 laude, University of Tor Vergata.
- 1989 -1991 - Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of Rome Sapienza.

Post-graduate training at Italian and foreign institutions and professional assignments:
- 1991 scholarship of the C.N.R. in the "Targeted Modification of Proteins" field.
- 1992 scholarship of the C.N.R. in "Characterization of proteins and their targeted modifications".
- 1993-1994 C.N.R.S. (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) researcher at the C.E.C.A.M. "Centre Europeen de Calcul Atomique et Moleculaire" Université Paris-Sud and at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France.
- 1994 I.N.F.M. (National Institute of Physics of Matter) scholarship.
- 1996 I.N.F.M. (National Institute of Physics of Matter) scholarship.
- 1997 post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Biochemical and Pharmacological Sciences of the University of Catania.
- 2000 research fellowship on "Simulation of molecular dynamics of globular proteins" at the University of Tor Vergata Department of Biology.
- 2002-2004 Assistant Professor in the scientific-disciplinary sector BIO/11, Molecular Biology at the Department of Biology of the University of Tor Vergata, Faculty of Sciences MM.FF.NN.
- 2005- Associate Professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Tor Vergata in the scientific-disciplinary sector BIO/11 (05/E2) Molecular Biology.
2014 – Qualified by ANVUR as full professor in Biochemistry, scientific disciplinary sector BIO/10 (05/E1).
2022 – Qualified by ANVUR as full professor in Molecular Biology, scientific disciplinary sector BIO/11 (05/E2).

Funding obtained for research activities
He has obtained research funds from various agencies such as C.N.R., E.C., I.N.F.M., Ministry of Research, Ministry of Health.
To date:
-Partner of the PNRR CN1 project, National Research Center "High Performance Simulations, Computing and Data Analysis", Spoke 6 "Multiscale Modelling & Engineering Applications".
-Partner of the PNRR CN3 project "Development of gene therapy and drugs with RNA technology", spoke 7 "Biocomputing".
- Project partner: "Aptides for the prevention of Pseudomonas infections" Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation (FFC Ricerca). Call for Grant Applications Year 2023. Duration 3 years, Funding of 200,000 €. Coordinator: Dr. Marco Sette, Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies, Tor Vergata. Partner 1: Structural Bioinformatics Unit coordinator, Prof. Mattia Falconi, Department of Biology, Tor Vergata. Partner 2: immunisation experiments Unit coordinator, Prof. Marco Rinaldo Oggioni, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna.
-Partner in unit 3 with Prof. Daniela Billi of the PRIN project: Research Projects of Relevant National Interest – Call 2022 Prot. 20224HJWMH: Extending the red limit of oxygenic photosynthesis: basic principles and implications for future applications. PI: Stefano Santabarbara, CNR.

Computational grants received
CASPUR (2007) High Performance Computing Grant: Classical molecular dynamics of pathological mutants of the mitochondrial ADP/ATP transporter.
CASPUR (2009) High Performance Computing Grant: Study of the topoisomerase I-antitumor drug interaction through classical molecular dynamics and ab-initio calculations.
2011a - CASPUR; High Performance Computing Grant on GPU cluster: Molecular dynamics simulation of human Topoisomerase IB in complex with supercoiled plasmids.
2011b - CASPUR; High Performance Computing Grant: In silico characterization of LOX-1 receptor for the design of peptide inhibitors.
2013 - PRACE call 6th; project name: DNANANO - Molecular dynamics simulation and experimental characterization of a DNA nanocage family.
2015 - PRACE call 10th; project name: NANOCARGO - design of self-assembling DNA nano-cages provided with pH and temperature-controlled gates for the target-delivery of biomolecules.
2015 - ISCRA class C Project, project name: METANANO - Metadynamics study for the rational design of a DNA nanocarrier opening mechanism.
2017- ISCRA class C Project, project name: H-SAMHD1 - Structural characterization of the apo and holo form of human SAMHD1 by molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the assembly and disassembly process.
2017 - PRACE 14th call 2017-2018. Project name: DNA VAULT - Simulation of a DNA origami nanostructure able to control single molecule enzymatic activity.
-Since 2016 he has been a user of High-Performance Computing on CRESCO Infrastructure ENEA.
Since 2020, a collaboration with ENEA researchers on Covid-19 research topics has been active.

Scientific activity
He is a peer reviewer of numerous international journals. His scientific activity is focused on using computational methods to understand the structural, functional and recognition properties of biological macromolecules. It deals with:
- understanding the recognition mechanisms between macromolecules or between proteins and substrates or inhibitors through calculating electrostatic potential, Brownian dynamics and molecular docking;
- peptides and aptamers design;
- molecular modeling of enzymes with unknown structure and homology modeling of mutations aimed at modulating the structural, functional and recognition properties of proteins;
- molecular dynamics and enhanced sampling simulations aimed at analysing the structure-dynamics-function relationship on native and mutated proteins to understand the modalities of recognition, functionality and inhibition often linked to dynamic characteristics of the structures.

Editorial responsibilities
-Associate Editor of the International Journal of Molecular Science (IJMS, IF: 5.923, ISSN 1422-0067, http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms).
-Associate Editor of Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences and Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics (section Biological Modelling and Simulation) (IF 5.246, ISSN Online 2296-889X).
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences

Personal links
He is the author of 145 papers in international journals with medium to high impact factors.
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3990-4758
SCOPUS: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7006841626
Web of Science: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/B-9621-2013
Group-page: http://structuralbiology.bio.uniroma2.it/

Teaching activities
Mattia Falconi holds the following courses at the Dip. of Biology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata:
- course of "Structural Bioinformatics" (6 CFU) in the master’s degree in Bioinformatics;
- AAS "Introduction to the Linux operating system" (3 CFU) for all master's degree courses in Biology and Biotechnology.

Participation in the Ph.D. Teaching Board
- From 01/01/2003 to 31/12/2009: University of Tor Vergata, Department of Biology. Participation in the teaching staff of the PhD in: "CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY", duration: 3 years.
- From 01/01/2010 to date: University of Tor Vergata, Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies. Participation in the teaching staff of the PhD programme: "MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT", DURATION: 3 YEARS.

Institutional Appointments
- Coordinator of the Master's Degree in Bioinformatics,
from 01.2020 to date.
- Member of the Commission for the Didactics,
from 01.2016 to date.
- Member of the Board of the Department of Biology,
from 01.2016 to date.
- Member of the Confirmation Committee of Researchers SSD BIO/11,
from 2010 to 2012.

Patents
He is the holder of a patent for an industrial invention entitled: "JNK3 inhibitor peptides", in the name: 1) University of Milan: 75%; 2) University of Tor Vergata: 20%; 3) Polytechnic University of Marche: 5%. Inventors: Tiziana Borsello, Mattia Falconi, Daniele Di Marino. The invention has been patented in Italy, Europe, the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
Short description: The present invention relates to selective and specific inhibitory peptides of MAP kinase JNK3 in the central nervous system and their use in treating acute and/or chronic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) and neurodevelopmental disorders. A list of diseases in which the peptide can be used: acute nervous system pathologies, ischemia and head trauma; chronic nervous system disorders: Alzheimer, Parkinson, Huntington, frontotemporal dementia, Down's syndrome, schizophrenia and psychiatric disorders, spinocerebral ataxia, muscle atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, Pick's disease, prion disease, developmental disorders of the nervous system, Rett and Angelman syndromes and the autism spectrum in general, diseases involving any inflammation of the brain parenchyma; glaucoma; diabetic diabetes and retinopathy; deafness, damage to the hair cells of the inner ear.