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Professor Vittorio Calabrese Print bio

Professor Vittorio Calabrese

Vittorio Calabrese, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at the School of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Catania in the Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences. He is the Director of the School of Specialization in Clinical Pathology and Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Catania, the University of Messina, and the University of Palermo.

His research focuses on the role of free radicals and antioxidants in human disease, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders. His interest in identifying the most important antioxidants in the human diet and in developing novel antioxidants has critical bearing on treating human diseases and understanding how diet might cause or prevent them.

Vittorio is a member of several journals including the Journal of Neuroscience Research, Neurochem Research, Antioxidant Redox Signaling, Journal Neurochemistry, Free Radical Biology & Medicine, and Current Neurovascular Research.

Areas of his research interests include:

  • Understanding the molecular mechanisms of cell injury and death in human disease (especially neurodegenerative disorders and dysmetabolic diseases), and in response to toxins;
  • Antioxidants in nutrition, health, and disease;
  • Natural and synthetic antioxidants as therapeutic agents;
  • Mechanism of ageing and age-related disease as studied using in vitro as well as in vivo animal models and in humans.

His current projects include:

  • The use of biomarkers of oxidative damage to lipids, DNA, and proteins in the human body to identify important antioxidants and their optimal intakes.
  • Molecular nutrition — the mechanisms by which diet affects the risk of disease development.
  • Neurodegenerative diseases, reoxygenation injury, atherosclerosis, and “metal overload” diseases.
  • The design and testing of drugs that prevent oxidative damage and their use as potential therapeutic agents. Development of screening tests for antioxidant activity.
  • The chemical nature of the antioxidants present in vivo.
  • Ageing in humans and in longest living rodents the NMR model of longevity.

His areas of interest:

  • Role of Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial dysfunction in Aging, Neurodegenerative disorders, and Longevity.
  • Nutritional Antioxidants and Modulation of cellular redox state.
  • Proteomics and redox proteomics.
  • Heat shock signal pathway and brain cell stress response.
  • Alcohol metabolism and alcohol-related pathology.
  • Gasobiology of the CNS: Role of Nitric Oxide (NO), Carbon Monoxide (CO), and Hydrogen sulfite (H2S) in the regulation of gene expression.
  • Carbon monoxide and organ transplantation.
  • Redox Modulation of Vitagenes by endogenous compounds. (Carnosine, Carnitines, Hormones) by polyphenols as target for novel therapeutic interventions in neurodegeneration and cancer.
  • Hormesis, Longevity medicine, and Mitochondrial medicine.

He has been reviewer of national projects (Italian MIUR), and many foreign projects for foreign institutions. He has been member of the ASN Commission (05/E1) of the Italian MIUR for the years 2013 and 2014.

He is the author of more than 200 high impact peer-reviewed journal articles published in international journals and widely cited (around 8500 total citations, around 5000 citations of the 10 most cited articles), and the top Italian scientist with the rank of 70, and h score of 63.

He invented the patent (Nr. WO 2004/07883 A1 of 10.9.2004) for the use of curcumin and its derivatives in the treatment neurodegenerative disorders.

Vittorio earned his Doctor of Medicine in Neuroscience from the University of Catania in 1984 with his thesis Modifications of brain lipid metabolism during aging. In 1988, he earned the Specialization in Neurology with his thesis on Oxidative Stress in Central Nervous System.

In 1987, he was awarded a Postdoctoral fellow in Neurobiology at the New York University Medical School, New York in the Department of Pharmacology with the work Neurodegenerative disorders: the role played by endotoxins and xenobiotics and in 1989 was a Postdoctoral fellow in Neuropharmacology at the Thomas Jefferson University Medical School, Philadelphia in the Department of Pharmacology with work on Oxidative stress and energy transduction defects in Neurodegenerative disorders.

In 1996, he became an Assistant Professor in Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry at the University of Catania, where he has been a full Professor since 2001.

He has been Visiting Professor at the University College London in the Department of Neurochemistry, at Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research in the Department of Surgical Research at the University of London, at the University of Kentucky in the Department of Chemistry, and at Blanchette Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute in West Virginia University.

He is a member of following Scientific Societies:

  • S.I.B., Italian Society of Biochemistry.
  • S.I.B.S., Italian Society of Experimental Biology
  • SIBIOC, Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry
  • ISN, International Society of Neurochemistry
  • ESN, European Society of Neurochemistry
  • A4M, American Academy Anti-aging Medicine

His most read, cited, and referenced papers include:

Visit his LinkedIn profile, ResearchGate profile, Loop profile, SciTechnol page, and his WikiGenes page.

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