Drug discovery and development

Discovery of drug targets and developments of methods to develop, analyze and deliver novel molecules active on specific pathological and microbiological targets

This research scope covers several aspects linked to Drug Development, starting from the high-throughput prediction of molecular targets with computational chemistry and bioinformatics approaches. It further proceeds into synthetic processes by developing novel techniques of pharmaceutical synthesis and extraction from plant matter and microbiological sources.

These drugs are then biochemically tested for their specific effects in appropriate cellular models (e.g. human cell cultures or bacterial populations). Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics approaches further predict and test for the in vivo behavior of these drugs and for toxic effects.

The final goals of this research scope in our department are both the discovery of new drugs through the full understanding of their mode of action and the development of more efficient ways to develop and synthesize them.

Research groups

People

Angela Abruzzo

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: micro and nanocarriers, mucoadhesion, chitosan based drug delivery systems, transdermal and mucosal permeation

Beatrice Albertini

Associate Professor

keywords: Microencapsulation, Preformulation studies and formulation development, Solvent free process technologies, Solid dosage

Greta Bagnolini

Research fellow

keywords: Drug Discovery, Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Synthesis, Anticancer Therapies, Protein-Protein

Monica Baiula

Associate Professor

keywords: Integrin, Drug discovery, Inflammation, Molecular Pharmacology

Federica Belluti

Associate Professor

keywords: natural products, multititarget drug discovery, design and synthesis of small molecules, antineurodegenetive small

Christian Bergamini

Associate Professor

keywords: Mitochondria, Mitochondrial electron transfer chain, Reactive Oxygen Species, Coenzyme Q10

Federica Bigucci

Associate Professor

keywords: hydrogels, thin films, porous matrices, micro and nanoparticles, mucoadhesion, permeation, modified release

Alessandra Bisi

Associate Professor

keywords: P-450 Cytochromes, Alzheimer disease, flavonoids, Multidrug resistance

Maria Laura Bolognesi

Full Professor

keywords: multitarget drug discovery, design and synthesis, neglected tropical diseases, prion diseases, Alzheimer's disease,

Francesca Bonvicini

Associate Professor

keywords: antimicrobial compounds, virus-cell interaction, antiviral drugs, microbial biofilms

Gabriele Campana

Assistant professor

keywords: bile acid, neonatal stress, POMC, FXR, opioids

Giovanni Capranico

Full Professor

keywords: DNA topoisomerases, R-loop and non-B DNA structures, Non-coding RNAs, Espressione genica, Transcription regulation,

Marco Caprini

Associate Professor

Lucia Carboni

Associate Professor

keywords: peripheral biomarkers, Alzheimer's disease, drug discovery, mood disorders, nicotine dependence

Giacomo Cavalca

PhD Student

keywords: Data science, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Deep learning, Bioinformatics

Teresa Cerchiara

Associate Professor

keywords: hydrogels, natural fibers, cyclodextrin, wound dressings, micro and nanocarriers

Stefano Luciano Ciurli

Full Professor

keywords: Bioinorganic Chemistry, Biomodelling, Biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, Metallo-chaperons, Urease, X-ray absorption

Paolo Emidio Costantini

Fixed-term Researcher in Tenure Track L. 79/2022

keywords: Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Phage, Nanoparticle

Alberto Danielli

Associate Professor

keywords: Phage, Molecular Microbiology, Helicobacter pylori, Nanobiotechnology, theranostic vector

Eleonora Diamanti

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Anti-infective agents, Anti microbial resistance problem, PROTAC

Federico Falchi

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Molecular Docking, Virtual Screenig, Hit to Lead, SAR, QSAR, 3DQSAR, Protein Protein Interaction, Homology Modelling,

Giovanna Farruggia

Assistant professor

keywords: fluorescece spectroscopy, flow cytometry, magnesium, fluorescent dye, cell proliferation

Giovanni Ferrandi

PhD Student

keywords: Synthetic lethality, DNA damage repair, SAR studies, Molecule characterization, Pancreatic cancer

Lucrezia Galassi

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

Giorgio Gallinella

Full Professor

keywords: Parvovirus B19, Virus-cell interaction, Viral infections, Recombinant virus, Antiviral compounds

Giovanna Angela Gentilomi

Associate Professor

keywords: ESBL, KPC, Plant extracts, MRSA, Bacterial biofilm

Silvia Gobbi

Associate Professor

keywords: flavonoids, anticancer drugs, Alzheimer, priviledged structures, hybrid molecules, cytochromes P450, antimicrobics

Roberto Gotti

Associate Professor

keywords: chiral separation, validation of analytical methods, capillary electrophoresis, chromatographic analysis, sample

Patrizia Hrelia

Full Professor

keywords: Toxicity, Neuroprotection, Chemoprevention, Pharmacogenetic, Preventive medicine, Cancer, Biomarkers

Stefano Iotti

Full Professor

keywords: fluorescent dyes, Magnesium, Biosensors, hydroxyquinoline derivatives, Synchreotron-based x-ray microscopy, magnetic

Barbara Luppi

Associate Professor

keywords: transcutaneous and transmucosal permeation, mucoadhesion, hydrogels, modified release, micro e nano carriers, \"health

Emil Malucelli

Associate Professor

Manuela Mandrone

Associate Professor

keywords: Metabolomics, Phytochemistry, Ethnobotany, Enzyme activity, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Jessica Marinello

Associate Professor

keywords: Human Topoisomerases, R-loops, Non canonical DNA structures, G-quadruplex, DNA damage

Gianfranco Martino

PhD Student

keywords: Proteins and RNA structures MD simulations

Matteo Masetti

Associate Professor

keywords: Drug discovery and development, Molecular Dynamics simulations, Free energy calculations, Potassium channels

Andrea Maurizio

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Integrins, Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Drug Discovery, Inflammation, Cancer

keywords: Enzymes, Cancer, Computational Chemistry, Molecular Dynamics

Drug discovery and development

Research groups

People