Claudio
Nicolini, born in Udine 4/4/1942, after taking his Doctoral degree in
Nuclear
Physics at the University of Padua in 1966, became in 1967 first
Assistant
Professor and subsequently Researcher-Collaborator at the National
Institute of Nuclear Physics.
From 1968, except for a short
period (1970-1971), in which he was Adjunct Professor of Physics at
the University of Bari, Claudio Nicolini has been living for 16 years
in the U.S.A. (the citizenship of which he still has) first as
nuclear physicist at Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Then, starting from
1972 he moved to Medicine at the Temple University School of Medicine
in Philadelphia, where after a period of intensive medical
training and research he became a tenure-track Associate Professor of
Pathology (1974) and, subsequently, at the age of 33 years Full
Professor and Chairman of the Division of Biophysics at Temple
University Health Sciences Center (1st January 1976). In 1984 he has
been
called for "chiara fama", as "Eminent Scientist",
with a special law to the Chair of Biophysics of the University of
Genova.
At present, alternating stages in USA (i.e., Stanford
University, Nevada University), Japan (i.e., Erato Project -J.R.D.C.
at Tsukuba and Tokyo) and Russia (i.e., Russian Academy of Sciences
and Moscow University), he directs the Nanoworld
Institute of the University of
Sassari and the University of Genova, after directing the Institute
of Biophysics at the Medical School until 1999 and the Department of
Biophysical M&O Sciences and Technologies of University of Genoa
until 2002.He
has been a member of the National Science and Technology Council upon
appointment by the Italian Parlament between 1990 and 1998. Over the
past several years his main scientific activities concerned molecular
and cellular biophysics, cancer research, bioelectronics and
nanotechnology, receiving several awards (e.g. American Cancer
Society) and international prizes (San Valentino d'Oro).
Editor of
several international journals, among which "Cell Biophysics"
(editor-in-chief until 1991).
Consultant of several International
Organizations in USA and world-wide (NATO Scientific Affair Division,
National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, Frontiers
Research (Japan), Russian Academy of Sciences, American Cancer
Society); Director of twelve NATO-Advanced Study Institutes, Director
from 1978 up to now of the International School of Biostructures of
the Cultural Center "Ettore Majorana"; President of
Scientific Committees of world-wide leading Industrial and
International Research organizations (CIREF, Technobiochip); member
of several national and international academies; from 1990 until 2002
founder and President of Polo
Nazionale Bioelettronica - Scientific and Technological Park of Elba,
from 1993 founder and President of Fondazione
El.B.A..
From 1984 to 1987, he has been Advisor for Science and Technology
of the Italian Prime Minister Craxi, and from 1988 to 1995 he was
Vice President of the National Research Program on Bioelectronics
(President is the Minister in office). Author of more than 425
publications in international scientific journals reviewed by the
"Citation Index", of more than 15 WPI patents, of 25 books,
among which university text books, such as "Biophysics and
Cancer" (Plenum, 1986), and "Biofisica e Tecnologie
Biomediche" (Zanichelli, 1992) and monographs, such as
"Bioscience at the Physical Science Frontier. A Nobel
Symposium" (Human Press, 1986), "Il Cancro"
(UTET, 1991), "Molecular Manifacturing" (Plenum
Press,1996), "Molecular Bioelectronics" (World
Publishing Co, 1996) and "Genome Structure and Functions"
(Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), “Proteomics and
Nanocrystallography” (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003 with E.
Pechkova), “Synchrotron Radiation and Nanobiotechnology”
(Journal Synchrotron Radiation, 2005 with E. Pechkova).
His most
significant
contributions are in the areas of Biosciences, Biotechnologies e
Nanotechnologies, with the exception in his early life as nuclear
physicist, for the discovery with the Cambridge Group
Padova-Mit-Harvard of the branching ratios of eta zero meson, which
establishes its quantum numbers. Namely in the early part of his
carrear as shown in the list of pubblications:
-
the discovery and clarification
of the quaternary DNA structure in the human genome,until the
identification of the structural subunit called fibrosome (and later on
by other loop), associated to the single gene, suggesting first in
50.000 the maximum number of genes in human cells;
-
the discovery of histones enzymatic
modifications and of non-histones, extractable at 0,35 M and of their
role in the control of cell function and of nucleosome structure;
-
a new characterization of the
cell cycle;
-
identification and
characterization of non proliferating non proliferating G0 e Q cells;
-
the piomeering of cell laser
microfluorimetry and image analysis in Biomedicine;
-
the pioneering of complex
biomathematical models and pharmaco-enzymatic and pharmaco-kinetic
applied to cancer treatment .
He
later
-
discovered the
differential scattering polarized circular light, with application to
defense and medicine;
-
solved the 3D
atomic structure of histone H1 in solution and human kinase CK2alpha in
microcrystals;
-
developed a
software for automatic sequential NMR assignement of amino-acids.
In
most recent times he has been among the pioneers internationally of
Bioelettronics and Nanotechnologies towards the biochip and the
biocomputer through the development of:
- nanocrystallography
using
synchrotron radiation
- new
sensors
- new
SPM
- new
materials
- new
biomolecolar devices
- new
LB e LS thin film technologies to obtain to heat-proof proteins,
lipids, fatty acids, organic materials and conductive polymers.
- microGISAXS
of protein solution and crystal formation
- DNA
Chip of new conception named DNASER applied to gene and protein
expression
Prof. Claudio Nicolini