Concetta Castilletti

Concetta Castilletti (born January 11, 1963 in Ragusa ) is an Italian biologist . She is a specialist in microbiology and head of the working group in the virological laboratory of the Istituto nazionale per le malattie infettive Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome. In February 2020, together with Francesca Colavita and Maria Rosaria Capobianchi , she succeeded in isolating the SARS-CoV-2 virus , the causative agent of the lung disease COVID-19 . A partial sequencing of the genome of 2019-nCoV / Italy-INMI1 has been published on the GenBank database .

Career and work as a researcher

Concetta Castilletti studied biology at the University of Catania , where she also obtained her degree. She later obtained a special degree in microbiology and virology at La Sapienza University in Rome, where she became aware of Maria Rosaria Capobianchi . From 1998 to 2000 she did research in virus immunobiology at the University of Pisa and received a Dottorato di ricerca , comparable to a Ph.D. or a doctorate . Castilletti published numerous studies on SARS , Ebola , the so-called " swine flu " and chikungunya fever .

In February 2020, together with Maria Rosaria Capobianchi and Francesca Colavita , she succeeded in isolating the SARS-CoV-2 virus , the causative agent of the lung disease COVID-19, in less than 48 hours, which is an important step in researching and fighting the virus represents. Concetta Castilleti was the responsible leader in this research team (responsabile Unità Virus emergenti Spallanzani): "It was not easy to isolate the virus, we were also a good deal of luck." The three researchers worked 20 hours a day on the isolation.

A partial sequencing of the genome of 2019-nCoV / Italy-INMI1 has been published on the GenBank database .

Publications

Profile of Concetta Castilletti at the Istituto nazionale per le malattie infettive “L. Spallanzani ”, at: Researchgate

Web links

Literature by and about Concetta Castilletti in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Entries for Concetta Castilletti in the search engine Google Scholar

Interview with Concetta Castilletti (Italian)

Individual evidence

^ Margherita De Bac: La ricercatrice che ha isolato il virus: "Prezioso è stato un marito che sa cambiare i pannolini". In: Corriere della Sera . February 4, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020 (Italian).
^ Concetta Castiletti: Curriculum Vitae Europass. January 18, 2018, accessed April 21, 2020 (Italian).
↑ Bulgari supports the Roman institute in the fight against the corona virus. WatchPro, March 9, 2020, accessed April 2, 2020 .
^ Coronavirus, Speranza: "Allo Spallanzani isolato il virus". rainews, February 2, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 (Italian).
↑ Isolato presso il laboratorio di Virologia dell'INMI il nuovo coronavirus. Istituto nazionale per le malattie infettive , February 2, 2020, accessed on March 27, 2020 (Italian).

personal data
SURNAME	Castilletti, Concetta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian biologist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 11, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ragusa

[1] Margherita De Bac: La ricercatrice che ha isolato il virus: "Prezioso è stato un marito che sa cambiare i pannolini". In: Corriere della Sera . February 4, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020 (Italian).

[2] Concetta Castiletti: Curriculum Vitae Europass. January 18, 2018, accessed April 21, 2020 (Italian).

[3] Bulgari supports the Roman institute in the fight against the corona virus. WatchPro, March 9, 2020, accessed April 2, 2020 .

[4] Coronavirus, Speranza: "Allo Spallanzani isolato il virus". rainews, February 2, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 (Italian).

[5] Isolato presso il laboratorio di Virologia dell'INMI il nuovo coronavirus. Istituto nazionale per le malattie infettive , February 2, 2020, accessed on March 27, 2020 (Italian).