I graduated with honors in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology in 2000 from the University of Siena, where I also obtained a PhD in 2004 under the supervision of Prof. M. Botta. During this period, I worked on the development of combinatorial methodologies for the synthesis of potential antiviral agents with nucleoside and non-nucleoside structures.
From 2005 to 2006, I was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Georgia (USA), working with Prof. David C.K. Chu on the synthesis of unnatural nucleoside derivatives with antitumor and antiviral activity. During this period, my research contributed to the development of Troxacitabine prodrugs with improved in vitro activity profiles compared to the original drug against prostate and lung cancers. Another significant achievement was the development of the first low-temperature microwave-assisted nucleoside synthesis, which enabled the preparation of new arabinoside derivatives of Neplanocin-A.
From 2006 to 2010, I worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Siena and subsequently as a fixed-term Researcher until December 2011. In December 2011, I was appointed as a permanent Researcher at the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Parma, where I have held the position of Associate Professor since October 2014. In March 2017, I obtained the National Scientific Qualification for Full Professor (Sector 03/D1).
I have actively participated in several national research projects (Regional Health Research Program 2009; PRIN 2007; PRIN 2008; PRIN 2010–2011) and international projects (GLISTEN, CHAARM, ExCellENT-Hit, TRIoH, COST Angiokem: Chiesi Foundation). I was involved in the licensing process of patent WO2009034547 to Virostatics Srl and in the transfer of patent WO2011073959 to the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). I am co-author of the Business Plan “TKI Pharmaceutical” (based on patent WO2009034547), presented in 2006 at the Toscana Life Sciences Science Park. I am also co-author of the Business Plan “Lead Discovery Siena (LDS)” (also based on patent WO2009034547), winner of the 2009 Start Cup Toscana. Furthermore, I am co-author and proposer of the Business Plans “CoREX Pharm” (based on patent EP2388250), presented in 2012 at Sardegna Ricerche Science Park, and “AID-Discovery” (based on patent US 2012/0202814), presented in 2013 at the same institution.
I served as Erasmus Delegate for the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Parma from 2012 to 2017. I was a member of the Management Committee of the COST CM1207 project “GLISTEN” from 2013 to 2017. I have been a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Chemistry since 2012.
I have been Co-Principal Investigator of the research project “New tools in the fight against cystic fibrosis” (2018–2021), conducted in collaboration with University College London and funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; of the project “CCR6 blockade as a novel therapeutic strategy against inflammatory bowel disease” funded by the ECCO Foundation (2019–2021); and of the project “Bithiazole derivatives as broad-spectrum antivirals” funded by the Novartis Foundation (2022–2024). I was also a member of the Management Committee of the COST CA18133 project “European Research Network on Signal Transduction” (2019–2023) and a participant in the COST CA17140 project “Cancer Nanomedicine - from the bench to the bedside” (2018–2022).
More recently, I served as Unit Scientific Coordinator in a PRIN2017 project (ORIGINALE CHEMIAE in Antiviral Strategy; 2019–2022) and in a PRIN2022 project (DEFENCE; 2023–2026) focused on the identification of new inhibitors of viral and host helicases. In addition, I have been the coordinator of the PANVIRIDE project (2024–2026), involving six universities and a pharmaceutical company, aimed at developing new broad-spectrum antivirals to combat emerging and re-emerging viruses.
The research activity of my group is currently focused on the design and synthesis of new potential drug candidates for several communicable and non-communicable diseases: viral diseases (Dengue, Zika, WNV, HCV, Enterovirus, SARS-CoV-2), bacterial infections (gyrase inhibitors, SrerB2 inhibitors, membrane-disrupting agents), cancer (compounds targeting GPER-1, I1-IR, CXCR4, Src, Bcr-Abl), inflammatory diseases (modulators of the CCL20-CCR6 axis), hyperlipidemia/Alzheimer’s disease (PCSK9 inhibitors), Parkinson’s disease (LRRK2 inhibitors), and cystic fibrosis (CFTR correctors/potentiators).
Our research philosophy emphasizes the integration of green chemistry techniques, computational tools, and medicinal chemistry approaches to conduct sustainable drug discovery campaigns. Combinatorial chemistry, microwave-assisted organic synthesis (MAOS), multicomponent reactions (MCR), electrochemistry (EC), and in silico predictions are routinely employed to accelerate drug discovery through the rational exploration of biologically relevant chemical space. In our laboratory, several approaches are used to identify new drug candidates: (1) Diversity-Oriented Synthesis (DOS) from privileged scaffolds; (2) Target-Based Drug Discovery (TBDD); (3) Phenotypic Drug Discovery (PDD); (4) Mechanism-informed Phenotypic Drug Discovery (MIPDD); (5) Late-stage functionalization.
The results of this activity are documented in 102 publications in international journals (H-index = 32; 3,123 citations – Scopus; H-index = 35; 4,037 citations – Google Scholar), 2 book chapters, 1 Italian patent application, 6 international patent applications, and numerous conference presentations.
