Stefano Gustincich PhD

Stefano Gustincich is Deputy Director for “Technologies for Life Science (LifeTech)” and Director of the Department of “Neuroscience and Brain Technologies” at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genova, Italy. He is Full Professor in Applied Biology in “leave of absence” from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste.

After his training in Biology, he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Genetics & Biotechnology at SISSA, Trieste. In 1993, he was awarded a long-term EMBO fellowship to join the Department of Neurobiology of Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA) wherein 1998 he was appointed Instructor in Neurobiology. In 2003, he was granted the “Career Developmental Award” by “The Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Foundation” to found the Laboratory of Neurogenomics at SISSA where he became Associate Professor. In 2011, he was awarded the National Prize for Innovation in Biotechnology. He recently wrote the masterplan for the Center of Neurogenomics at the Human Technopole, a new genomic research center in Milano, Italy.

His research interests concern the biology of the non-coding portion of the genome, the so-called “Junk DNA”. He recently discovered the SINEUPs, a new functional class of antisense long noncoding RNAs able to increase translation of their sense gene. He is the co-founder of TranSINE Therapeutics, a start-up located in Cambridge, UK.