Roberto Motterlini

Dr. Motterlini is currently Director of Research (DR1) at INSERM U955 in Creteil (France) where he has been working since 2012. A Biochemist/Pharmacologist by training, he was educated in Italy (the University of Milan and San Raffaele Institute, 1986-1991) and covered post-doctoral positions at the Letterman Army Institute of Research in San Francisco (1991) and the University of California San Diego (1992-1994). From 1995 to 2008, Dr. Motterlini was Head of the Vascular Biology Unit at Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research (Harrow, UK) and subsequently (2008-2011) Senior Scientist at the Drug Discovery Department within the Italian Institute of Technology (Genova, Italy). Dr. Motterlini has a long-standing interest in the regulation, activity and biological significance of HO-1, a ubiquitous defensive protein that degrades heme to CO and biliverdin.

He has focused his research on understanding the physiological role of CO and bile pigments in cardiovascular biology as well as their protective action against stressful stimuli. His work has been instrumental to uncover the vasodilatory, anti-ischemic and anti-inflammatory properties of CO. Among his major achievements is the development of novel drug candidates that specifically target the heme oxygenase/CO pathway. As part of this strategic plan, Dr. Motterlini has pioneered the discovery and characterization of CO-releasing molecules (CO-RMs), small active compounds that are able to carry and deliver controlled amounts of CO to cells and tissues. These compounds have been shown to exert important pharmacological actions to counteract vascular and metabolic dysfunction as well as inflammation. More recently, Dr. Motterlini has designed and synthesized a new class of hybrid compounds, termed HYCOs, that have the ability to induce HO-1 and simultaneously release CO. These hybrid molecules with dual function are being tested in inflammatory models of disease such as skin wound, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. Dr Motterlini has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles on the biology of HO-1/CO, holds several patents and co-founded and was Scientific Director of the biopharmaceutical start-up company HemoCORM Ltd. He currently serves as a Member of the Editorial Board of Pharmacological Research and Antioxidants and has been invited as a speaker to 106 international conferences. In his entire career, Dr. Motterlini supervised and trained 25 PhD students, 20 Post-doctoral Fellows, 25 Master Students, 11 Research Assistants and 19 Visiting Scientists.