Cesare Montecucco

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Cesare Montecucco,
March 2011 in Frankfurt am Main
(in the background the IG-Farben building )

Cesare Montecucco (born November 1, 1947 in Trento ) is an Italian biologist and pathologist . He heads the Department of Biomedical Research at the University of Padua and deals with diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria . In 2011 he was awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize .

education

Cesare Montecucco first studied chemistry at the University of Padua and graduated in 1971 with a study in organic chemistry . From 1971 to 1973 he did military service in the Italian Navy and then wrote his doctoral thesis on the structure of mitochondrial ATP synthase in the field of biology until 1975 - also in Padua . He then worked as a post-doctoral student at Cambridge University from 1976 to 1977 , followed by further stays abroad in Paris at the Pasteur Institute , in Utrecht , at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and at the Universidad de Costa Rica . He has been Professor of Pathology since 1978 and Vice Director of the Scuola Galileiana in Padua since 2004 .

Research topics

Montecucco explored inter alia, the manner in which the neurotoxin of tetanus bacterium Clostridium tetani the conspicuous, spasmodic rigidity of the muscles ( "tetanus") causes. He demonstrated that the tetanus neurotoxin prevents certain vesicles in the synapses of nerve cells from releasing neurotransmitters that are important for the conduction of excitation from nerve cell to nerve cell. Montecucco postulated in 1986 that both the tetanus neurotoxin and the botulinum toxin break down certain components of the proteins involved in the release and thereby cause the potentially fatal blockage. Between 1991 and 1994 he demonstrated that the blocked protein is VAMP / Synaptobrevin from the group of SNARE proteins ; this group of proteins mediates the contact and fusion of the vesicle membrane with the membrane of the target cell. When the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize was announced for 2011, a statement by the Paul Ehrlich Foundation said that Montecucco's discovery was “a breakthrough in the understanding of transport processes between cells”.

From 1993 to 2000 he researched the inflammatory vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA gene product ) from Helicobacter pylori and demonstrated that it causes the formation of vacuoles in the epithelial cells of the stomach , which fill with stomach acid and gradually destroy the stomach tissue. Based on this knowledge, the Novartis company developed one of the components of a three-component vaccine , which was tested in a clinical study (phase II) in 2011 .

In the following years, further studies of the mode of action of anthrax and certain snake poisons ( phospholipase A₂ ) were carried out.

Honors

In 1993, Montecucco received the Shipley Award from Harvard Medical School for his contributions to the field of infectious diseases . In 1998 he received the prize of the Italian Consortium for Biotechnology (Consorzio italiano delle Biotecnologie), in 2000 he was DGHM Lecturer of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology , in 2003 he received the Premio Masi per la Civiltà Veneta , in 2004 the Antonio-Feltrinelli Prize for Medicine and the 2009 Redi Award from the International Society on Toxicology (IST) and the Paul Harris Prize from the Rotary Club . In 2011 he was awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt . Since 1999 he has been a full member of the Academia Europaea . In 2004 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina and in 2006 he was elected to the Accademia dei Lincei .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Professor Cesare Montecucco to receive the 2011 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize. On: eurekalert.org of October 26, 2010
  2. ↑ Prof. Dr. Cesare Montecucco receives Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2011. Press release of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation of October 25, 2010 (PDF)
  3. ↑ DGHM Lecturer - Requirements and former laureates. In: dghm.de. Retrieved August 29, 2019 .
  4. ^ Membership directory: Cesare Montecucco. Academia Europaea, accessed October 5, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Cesare Montecucco (with picture) at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on July 19, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Montecucco, Cesare
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian chemist, biologist and pathologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Trent