Director

ALFREDO CICCODICOLA Acting Director

Email: direttore.igb@cnr.it
Phone number: +39 081 6132 242

Profile

Professor Alfredo Ciccodicola is a molecular geneticist whose research has long focused on the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying human diseases, with a particular interest in the identification of disease-causing genes, especially those located on the X chromosome.
He began his research career in 1984 as an undergraduate student at the former International Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IIGB) of the CNR in Naples, now the Institute of Genetics and Biophysics "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso" (IGB), where he studied the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) gene.
In 1987, he carried out research as a Visiting Scientist at the Human Genetic Branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Bethesda, USA) and, upon returning to Italy, was selected by the CNR as one of the young researchers involved in the Strategic Project on Human Genome Mapping and Sequencing, promoted by Renato Dulbecco. He later worked as a Research Associate at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, USA), contributing to the mapping of the X chromosome using YAC vectors, and as a Visiting Scientist Specialist at Genentech Inc. (South San Francisco, USA), where he worked on the application of the first automated DNA sequencers.
Supported by an AIRC fellowship, he then conducted research at Applied Biosystems Inc. (Foster City, USA), participating in the early phases of the Human Genome Project.
Upon his permanent return to Italy, he directed the Biomolecular Technologies Service (STB) at the CNR Research Area Naples 1 and later served as Research Director at the IGB-CNR in Naples. He is also a lecturer in Molecular Biology at the Department of Science and Technology of the University of Naples "Parthenope", and a member of the PhD Faculty Board in "Environment, Resources and Sustainable Development - UNESCO Chair".
The current research activities of Prof. Ciccodicola and his group include:
o investigating molecular mechanisms underlying complex diseases (diabetes, obesity, and cancer) through multi-omics approaches.
o analyzing alternative splicing and transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in pathological processes.
o studying the pathogenic mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy.