Full Professor

Prof. Annamaria De Luca is full Professor of Pharmacology since 2005 and is highly committed in institutional governance/coordination of teaching and research, including innovation of infrastructures for pre-clinical biomedical research. Main research topics: Pharmacological and translational research of rare inherited disorders, including both tissue-specific conditions (e.g., muscular dystrophies, epilepsy) and systemic syndromes (e.g., mitochondrial disorders, age-related sarcopenia, storage diseases), by means of integrated and multidisciplinary approaches in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro. Main objectives: 1) to improve genotypephenotype correlation; 2) to identify and validate novel disease-related biomarkers and druggable targets; 3) to develop disease-based innovative screening platforms (i.e. patients-derived organoids); 4) to validate new or repurposed pharmacological approaches in rare diseases; 6) to assess efficacy, effectiveness and safety of innovative DNA- and RNA-based nanotherapies on predictive experimental models. Main results are described in more than 200 publications in high-impact Journal (5717 citations, H-index 43).
Prof. De Luca has been recipient of several funding from public and private institutions and contributed, via a unique model of specialized research hub for translational research in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in order to help the preparation the regulatory dossiers of orphan drugs developed by various pharmaceutical companies as well as for robust support to drug repurposing and clinical studies. Since 2007, as opinion leader, has been one of the promoters of the international TREAT-NMD working group for the harmonization of protocols and guidelines for preclinical studies on animal models of neuromuscular diseases. Since 2009 has been a member and then chair (2018-2022) of the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics (TACT), an international panel of experts for de-risking the translational research process for new drugs targeting rare
neuromuscular diseases. Prof. De Luca, among various commitments, is currently member of the Neuromuscular Disease Executive Advisory Committee (NMDAC) of the TREAT-NMD Alliance and has been appointed in the Governing Board of ERDERA as Italy’s deputy.