ESR 7: Paolo Giaccio

Isolation of new natural neurotrophin mimetics from marine microorganisms.

EuroNeurotrophin Research
The aim of Paolo’s research will be the isolation of natural products from marine bacteria and/or fungi from the East Mediterranean basin that act as mimetics of neurotrophins using a bioassay-guided isolation protocol. The procedure will include: (i) small-scale fermentation of existing strains from the MicroBank available at NKUA and preparation of extracts that will be tested for neuroprotective activity using HTS facilities at USFD, (ii) large-scale fermentation of strains exhibiting positive hits and fractionation of extracts thereof to crude fractions according to polarity, which will be subjected to another round of HTS facilities at USFD, (iii) chromatographic separations of fractions exhibiting positive hits using normal and reversed phase liquid chromatography so as to obtain secondary metabolites in pure form to be evaluated for their bioactivity as neurotrophin mimetics, (iv) comprehensive spectroscopic (1D and 2D NMR, UV, IR) and spectrometric (HR-MS and MSn) analyses for the structure elucidation of the isolated metabolites..

Host
B5: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Greece

Supervisor
Prof. Vasileios Roussis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Scientific Background
In July 2017, Paolo graduated from the University of Naples “Federico II” (Italy) with an M.Sc. degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology. His research project, carried out at the Department of Natural Products, aimed at the identification, characterization and semisynthetic derivatizations of marine sponges’ secondary metabolites with pharmacological activity. From February 2018 to July 2018, Paolo worked with Dr. Angelo Fontana at the CNR - Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (ICB) based in Pozzuoli (Naples, Italy). There, Paolo acquired practical and theoretical knowledge on the isolation and characterization of secondary metabolites using spectroscopic techniques, while he approached the organic synthesis of new molecules designed for improved bioactivity. In September 2018, Paolo joined the EuroNeurotrophin Network as a PhD student at the Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA).