Dario Alessi

Dario Alessi
Born	Dario Renato Alessi December 1967 (age 48–49) [1] France
Nationality	United Kingdom
Fields	protein phosphorylation
Institutions	University of Dundee
Alma mater	University of Birmingham
Known for	Protein kinase research
Notable awards	Colworth Medal (1999) Morgagni Young Investigator Prize (2002) Pfizer Academic Award for Europe (2002) Royal Society of Edinburgh Makdougall Brisbane Prize (2002) Philip Leverhulme Prize (2002) FEBS Anniversary Prize of the Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie (2003) EMBO Gold Medal (2005)
Website www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/people/dario-alessi

Dario Alessi FRSE FRS (born in France, 1967) is a biochemist, Director of the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU) and Professor of Signal Transduction, at University of Dundee.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Education and Career

He attended high school in Brussels. He graduated from the University of Birmingham, with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 1988, and with a Ph.D. in 1991, where he studied with Ian Trayer and David Trentham.^[7] His postdoctoral research was with Sir Philip Cohen FRS from 1991 to 1997. He became Professor of Signal Transduction at the University of Dundee in 2003 and Director of the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU) in 2012.^[8][9]

Research

Alessi’s work is concerned with unravelling the roles of poorly characterised components which regulate protein phosphorylation or ubiquitylation that have emerged from the genetic analysis of human disease. The aim of his research is to provide new knowledge to enable researchers to devise improved strategies for the treatment of disease.^[10] Dario Alessi is also the current Director of the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy Unit (DSTT) that is a unique collaboration between University of Dundee and six major pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck KgaA, Janssen Pharmaceutica and Pfizer) that aims to accelerate drug discovery in the areas of protein phosphorylation and ubiquitylation.^[11] As of 2013 he has written over 180 peer-reviewed papers and has been cited more than 32,000 times, making him one of the most highly cited biochemists in the world.^[12]

Awards and honours

Dario Alessi has received many awards, among these the Colworth Medal (1999), the Eppendorf Young European Investigator Award (2000), Philip Leverhulme Prize (2002), EMBO Gold Medal (2005) and the Francis Crick Prize Lecture of the Royal Society (2006). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2002, Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2005, Fellow of the Royal Society in 2008 and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2012.^[13]

References

1. ALESSI, Prof. Dario Renato. Who's Who. 2014 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription required)
2. "Dario Alessi | College of Life Sciences". Retrieved 2011-11-13.
3. "MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit :: Research :: Dario Alessi". Retrieved 2011-11-13.
4. "Dario Alessi - SCILLS - The Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling". Retrieved 2011-11-13.
5. "* Dario Alessi (professor), Scotland - Online Encyclopedia of the Italian Scientists and Scholars in America". Retrieved 2011-11-13.
6. Cross, D. A.; Alessi, D. R.; Cohen, P; Andjelkovich, M; Hemmings, B. A. (1995). "Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 by insulin mediated by protein kinase B". Nature. 378 (6559): 785–9. doi:10.1038/378785a0. PMID 8524413.
7. Alessi, D. R.; Corrie, J. E.; Fajer, P. G.; Ferenczi, M. A.; Thomas, D. D.; Trayer, I. P.; Trentham, D. R. (1992). "Synthesis and properties of a conformationally restricted spin-labeled analog of ATP and its interaction with myosin and skeletal muscle". Biochemistry. 31 (34): 8043–8054. doi:10.1021/bi00149a039. PMID 1324724.
8. Gong, M. C.; Fuglsang, A.; Alessi, D.; Kobayashi, S.; Cohen, P.; Somlyo, A. V.; Somlyo, A. P. (1992). "Arachidonic acid inhibits myosin light chain phosphatase and sensitizes smooth muscle to calcium". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 267 (30): 21492–21498. PMID 1328235.
9. "MRC Clinical Sciences Centre - Overview - Scientific Advisory Board - Dario Alessi". Retrieved 2011-11-13.
10. "Dario Alessi's research page". Retrieved 2013-11-22.
11. "Division of Signal Transduction Therapy Unit". Retrieved 2013-11-22.
12. "ISI - highlycited.com". Retrieved 2013-11-22.
13. "Dario Alessi: MRC PPU - Awards". Retrieved 2013-11-22.