Ceci Luigi Ruggiero

Biography

"EDUCATION Degree in Chemistry with honor at the Dpt. of Chemistry of the University of Bari PROFESSIONAL AWARDS AND POSITIONS 2010 – at present Member of the Editorial Board of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry (Elsevier Ed.); 2010 – at present Head of Section (Commessa) “Biogenesi degli Organelli e delle Membrane Cellulari di Trasduzione dell'Energia” at IBBE; 2009 at present Member of the Management Committee of the COST Action CM0902 “Molecular Machineries for ion Translocation across Biomembranes”. 2006 – at present Senior scientist at IBBE; 2004-2006 Member of the steering committee of Italian Proteomic Society (IPSO). 2000 (June-July) Visiting scientist at the Plant Research International, Wageningen (NL). 1999 (Jan.-Apr.) Visiting scientist at the Agricultural Research Department – Centre for Plant Breeding and Reproduction Research (CPRO-DLO), Wageningen (NL). 1998- 2006 Research assistant at “Centro di Studio sui Mitocondri e Metabolismo Energetico (CSMME) - CNR. 1990 – 1998 Contract research assistant at CSMME - CNR. 1989 - 1990 Visiting scientist (European Molecular Biology Laboratory fellowship) at the Institut de Biologie Moleculaire des Plantes of the CNRS (Strasbourg, France). 1985 (Nov.) Visiting scientist at the Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (Universités L. Pasteur, Strasburg). 1984 - 1989 Contract research assistant at CSMME - CNR. RESPONSABILITY OF RESEARCH PROJECTS 2010 at present Research Unit of the project “Searching of allergens in trace amount, both in plant and animal food, coupled with specific antibody production for their detection” (project PRIN-2008 of the Italian Ministry of Education, Research and University, MIUR). 2007-2008 Research Unit of the Project “Biological Photoremediation” (Regione Puglia, Fondi POR, Progetto Esplorativo n. 57). 2006 “Molecular mechanisms in the environmental stress response in photosynthetic organisms”, project RSTL - CNR (cod. 191). 1999-2002 Research Unit of the Project “Lower application of insecticides by the production of insect resistant crops using novel protease inhibitor genes” (European Community , FAIR6-CT98-4239). 1993-2000 ""Biogenesis of mitochondrial DNA in higher plants"" at CSMME – CNR. SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY 2010 at present Characterization of allergens in maize: expression of recombinant polypeptides for component resolved diagnosis and immunotherapy. 2007 at present Studies on the adaptation to environmental stress of photosynthetic organisms. Identification of a multigene family coding for the light harvesting protein LHCb1 in spinach. Characterization of the adaptation of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides to heavy metal ions. 1998 – 2010 Identification and characterization of plant protease inhibitors and their genes. Analysis of the MTI-2 family of protease inhibitors in Cruciferae; expression in Pichia pastoris of the gene coding for the mustard trypsin inhibitor MTI-2. Expression of the MTI-2 gene in transgenic tobacco and Arabidopsis, and studies on growth and survival of larvae of Spodottera littoralis reared on leaves of transformed plants. Identification of MTI-2 variants obtained by site directed mutagenesis and by selection of a phage display library. 1984 – 2003 Characterization of the mitochondrial genomes of higher plants. Structural analysis of the sunflower mitochondrial genome and genes. Organization of tRNA genes. Development of a database for tRNAs and tRNA genes in higher plant mitochondria. TEACHING ACTIVITY 2010 – at present Contract Professor at the University of Bari (Faculty of Biotechnology) for the course “Applied Genomics and Bioinformatics”. 2007 – 2010 Tutor at the PhD school of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Bari. 2006 Contract professor of “Basic methodologies in Molecular Biology” for the master course in “Diagnostics Phytopathology” of the University of Bari; 2004 Contract professor of “Genetic engineering for environment protection” for the PhD school in Environmental Sciences of the University of Bari. 1999 Contract professor at University of Calabria (Arcavacata di Rende, CS) for the course “Structure and Functions of Proteins”. 1986 – at present Tutor for experimental thesis in Molecular Biology of students of the Biological Sciences and Biotechnology Courses of the University of Bari. MEMBERSHIP OF ACADEMIC SOCIETIES Italian Proteomic Association Società Italiana di Fotobiologia Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria SCIENCE POPULARIZATION 2008 - at present Responsible of the Section ""Proteine, il catalogo è questo"" of the magazine Sapere (Dedalo Ed.). 2004-2007 Member of the steering committee of the MIUR project “Sperimentazione di un modello didattico e del prototipo di un sistema misto (e-learning + laboratorio) per la formazione dei docenti e degli studenti sulle Scienze della Vita”. "

Research Interest

Applied Genomics and Bioinformatics.