Alberto Ferri

Alberto Ferri has contributed to the field of pre-clinical ALS research for more than 20 years. In 1994 he started a project on ALS-linked SOD1 mutant proteins and developed an original cell model to study the neurodegenerative processes caused by the variants of the enzyme. Since that time, he focused largely on the molecular mechanism and the pathophysiology of the disease, and published about 60 papers on that subject in high-rank international peer reviewed journals, including some reviews and commentaries.

As early as in 1997, he proposed the original concept that mutant SOD1 may exert its toxic activity through mitochondrial damage in neurons, leading to oxidative stress and mis-handling of intracellular calcium. This idea paved the way to a novel point of view on the mechanism of the disease.

In 2003 Alberto Ferri has been one of the pioneers in the demonstration that ALS is not purely a motor neuron disease but rather a multi-factorial and multi-system disease since cell types other than motor neurons contribute to establish the pathological phenotype. This concept is now widely accepted by the scientific community and has changed our perspective to therapy in so far as no single drug can be effective in the interception of the vicious cross-talk between motor neurons and other cell types; thus, a multi-drug strategy must be envisaged.

1994: Master’s Degree in Biological Sciences (University of Rome "La Sapienza")

1994-1996: Research fellow, Lab. Cytology and Histology, University of Rome "La Sapienza"

1996: Research fellow "Fondazione Buzzati-Traverso" - Lab. of Biochemistry, Dept. of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"

1996: Fellowship "Fondazione Ist. Neurologico C.Mondino" - Lab. of Biochemistry, Dept. of Biology, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"

1997-2001: Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Lab. of Neurochemistry, Fondazione S. Lucia CERC, Rome

2001-today: Researcher, Institute of Translational Pharmacology CNR-IFT CNR, Rome Italy, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia CERC, Rome, Italy.

Head of the Neurochemistry Laboratory, CERC, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.

- Scaricamazza S, Salvatori I, Amadio S, Nesci V, Torcinaro A, Giacovazzo G, Primiano A, Gloriani M, Candelise N, Pieroni L, Loeffler JP, Renè F, Quessada C, Tefera TW, Wang H, Steyn FJ, Ngo ST, Dobrowolny G, Lepore E, Urbani A, Musarò A, Volonté C, Ferraro E, Coccurello R, Valle C, Ferri A.

Repurposing of Trimetazidine for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: a study in SOD1G93A mice. Br J Pharmacol. 2021 Nov 16. doi: 10.1111/bph.15738. Epub ahead of print.

PMID: 34783031.

-Migliarini S, Scaricamazza S, Valle C, Ferri A, Pasqualetti M, Ferraro E. Microglia Morphological Changes in the Motor Cortex of hSOD G93A Transgenic ALS Mice. Brain Sci. 2021 Jun 18;11(6):807. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11060807.

-Quessada C, Bouscary A, René F, Valle C, Ferri A, Ngo ST, Loeffler JP. Skeletal Muscle Metabolism: Origin or Prognostic Factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Development? Cells. 2021 Jun 9;10(6):1449. doi:10.3390/cells10061449.

-Candelise N, Scaricamazza S, Salvatori I, Ferri A, Valle C, Manganelli V, Garofalo T, Sorice M, Misasi R. Protein Aggregation Landscape in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Clinical Relevance and Future Applications. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jun 2;22(11):6016. doi: 10.3390/ijms22116016.

-Scaricamazza S, Salvatori I, Ferri A, Valle C. Skeletal Muscle in ALS: An Unappreciated Therapeutic Opportunity? Cells. 2021 Mar 2;10(3):525. doi: 10.3390/cells10030525.

-Frederik J. Steyn, Rui Li, Siobhan E. Kirk, Tesfaye W. Tefera, Teresa Y. Xie, Timothy J. Tracey, Dean Kelk, Elyse Wimberger, Fleur C. Garton, Llion Roberts, Sarah E. Chapman, Jeff S. Coombes, W. Matthew Leevy, Alberto Ferri, Cristiana Valle, Frédérique René, Jean-Philippe Loeffler, Pamela A. McCombe, Robert D. Henderson, Shyuan T. Ngo. Altered skeletal muscle glucose-fatty acid flux in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Brain Communications, Volume 2, Issue 2, 2020, fcaa154, doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaa154

-Scaricamazza S, Salvatori I, Giacovazzo G, Loeffler JP, Renè F, Quessada C, Proietti D, Heil C, Rossi S, Battistini S, Giannini F, Volpi N, Steyn FJ, Ngo ST, Ferraro E, Madaro L, Coccurello R, Valle C and Ferri A.

Skeletal-muscle metabolic reprogramming in ALS-SOD1G93A mice predates disease onset and is a promising therapeutical target. IScience CellPress 2020 May 22;23(5):101087. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101087.

-Apolloni S, Amadio S, Fabbrizio P, Morello G, Spampinato AG, Latagliata EC, Salvatori I, Proietti D, Ferri A, Madaro L, Puglisi-Allegra S, Cavallaro S, Volonté C. Histaminergic transmission slows progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2019 Aug;10(4):872-893. doi: 10.1002/jcsm.12422.

-Mattei V, Manganelli V, Martellucci S, Capozzi A, Mantuano E, Longo A, Ferri A, Garofalo T, Sorice M, Misasi R. A multimolecular signaling complex including PrP(C) and LRP1 is strictly dependent on lipid rafts and is essential for the function of tissue plasminogen activator. J Neurochem. 2019 Oct 11. doi:

10.1111/jnc.14891.

-Garofalo T, Ferri A, Sorice M, Azmoon P, Grasso M, Mattei V, Capozzi A, Manganelli V, Misasi R. Neuroglobin overexpression plays a pivotal role in neuroprotection through mitochondrial raft-like microdomains in neuroblastoma SK-N-BE2 cells. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2018 Apr;88:167-176. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2018.01.007.

-Salvatori I, Ferri A, Scaricamazza S, Giovannelli I, Serrano A, Rossi S, D’Ambrosi N, Cozzolino M, Di Giulio A, Moreno S, Valle C, Carrì MT. Differential toxicity of TDP-43 isoforms depends on their sub-mitochondrial localization in neuronal cells. J Neurochem. 2018 May 20. doi: 10.1111/jnc.14465.

-Ferri A, Coccurello R. What is "Hyper" in the ALS Hypermetabolism? Mediators Inflamm. 2017;2017:7821672. doi: 10.1155/2017/7821672.