Post-Doc, Spleen function in physiology and disease group

mario.carucci@inserm.fr

In 2009, Mario got a master degree in biotechnology for human health from the Università di Siena in Italy. He studied the role of scaffold molecule KSR in cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells.

In 2015, he got a PhD in molecular pathogenesis, immunology and control of transmissible agents from the Università di Perugia, in Italy. He worked on the inhibition of Plasmespin V, an essential enzyme for protein export of P.falciparum parasites, a key factor in parasite’s virulence. He developed an innovative autologous expression system for large-scale production of P.falciparum proteins in the parasite itself, using the protein export system mediated by the Plasmepsin V.

After the PhD, he had a short six-months experience in applied research being responsible of a project called “Cow are you?” supported by Regione Umbria, in Italy. This project was focused on the design and production of a diagnostic kit based on lateral flow dipstick (LFD) for a rapid detection of respiratory diseases in cows. He presented the kit to the farmers in a convention followed by an on-field demonstration.

He joined the Biotigr team in 2016 as a postdoc researcher under the supervision of prof. Pierre Buffet. He spent 3 years in the Disease of Developing Unit (DDW) of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Tres Cantos, Spain, acquiring a strong expertise in high-throughput screening (HTS). In collaboration with Julien Duez, he designed, developed and optimized an HTS based on microsphiltration technique to search for drugs than stiffen mature gametocytes of P.falciparum parasites, inducing their splenic retention and clearing from circulation.

He came back to Paris in 2019 to validate the drug leaders for malaria transmission blocking selected after the screening campaign.

For any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact him.

Publications

– The human spleen in malaria: filter or shelter? Henry B, Roussell C, Carucci M, Brousse V, Ndour PA, Buffet P. Trends Parasitol. 2020 May. 36(5):435-446. Review.

– High throughput filtration to assess red blood cell deformability: a methodology to screen for malaria transmission-blocking drugs with wide applications in haematology. Duez J*, Carucci M*, Barbazán I, Corral M, Perez O, Presa J, Henry B, Roussel C, Ndour PA, Rosa N, Sanz L, Gamo FJ, Buffet PA. *Equal contribution. Nat. Protoc. 2018 May 24; 13(6):1362-1376.

– Picomolar Inhibition of Plasmepsin V, an Essential Malaria Protease, Achieved Exploiting the Prime Region. Gambini L, Rizzi L, Pedretti A, Taglialatela-Scafati O, Carucci M, Pancotti A, Galli C, Read M, Giurisato E, Romeo S, Russo I. PLoS One. 2016 Jan 4; 11(1):e0146627.