Kafatos:Lombardo, Fabrizio

I am a research associate in the Kafatos/Christophides Lab at Imperial College, London

Research Projects Functional genomics approach to investigate mosquito immunity factors and pathways is an ongoing research topic in the lab. I’m working on the optimization of RNAi in Anopheles gambiae cell lines and on the establishment of functional assays to study the effect of gene silencing in response to immune challenges. I’m also interested in the molecular and cellular analysis of mosquito hemocytes by identifying novel immune-related agonists and anti-agonists of P. berghei development in the mosquito and by characterizing hemocyte-specific markers. Education 2004, PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”. 1997, Degree in Biology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Previous Appointments 2004-2007, postdoctoral researcher, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Department of Public Health. Supervisor: Dr. Bruno Arcà. Publications Arcà B., Lombardo F., Francischetti I.M., Pham V.M., Mestres-Simòn M, Andersen J.F. and Ribeiro J.M. (2007) An insight into the sialome of the adult female mosquito Ædes albopictus, Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 37, 107-127.

Ribeiro J.M, Arcà B., Lombardo F., Calvo E., Pham V.M., Chandra P.K. and Wikel S.K. (2007) An annotated catalogue of salivary gland transcripts in the adult female mosquito, Ædes ægypti. BMC Genomics, 4; 8 (1): 6.

Lombardo F., Lanfrancotti A., Mestres-Simòn M., Rizzo C., Coluzzi M. and Arcà B. (2006) At the interface between parasite and host: the salivary glands of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Parassitologia, 48 (4), 573-80. Review.

Calvo E., Pham V.M., Lombardo F., Arcà B., Ribeiro J.M. (2006) The sialotranscriptome of adult male Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 36, 570–575.

Rossi F., Lombardo F., Paglino A., Cassani C., Miglio G., Arcà B. and Rizzi M. (2005) Identification and biochemical characterization of the Anopheles gambiae 3-hydroxykynurenine transaminase. FEBS Journal, 272, 5653–5662.

Arcà B., Lombardo F., Valenzuela J.G., Francischetti I.M., Marinotti O., Coluzzi M. and Ribeiro J.M. (2005) An updated catalogue of salivary gland transcripts in the adult female mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 208, 3971-3986.

Lombardo F., Nolan T., Lycett G., Lanfrancotti A., Stich N., Catteruccia F., Louis C., Coluzzi M. and Arcà B. (2005) An Anopheles gambiae salivary gland promoter analysis in Drosophila melanogaster and Anopheles stephensi. Insect Molecular Biology, 14 (2), 207–216.

Lanfrancotti A., Lombardo F., Santolamazza F., Veneri M., Castrignanò T., Coluzzi M., Arcà B. (2002) Novel cDNAs encoding salivary proteins from the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. FEBS Letters, 517, (1-3) pp. 67-71.

Arcà B., Lombardo F., Lanfrancotti A., Spanos L., Veneri M., Louis C., Coluzzi M. (2002) A cluster of four D7-related genes is expressed in the salivary glands of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Insect Molecular Biology, Feb; 11(1), 47-55.

Lombardo F., Di Cristina M., Spanos L., Louis C., Coluzzi M., Arcà B. (2000) Promoter sequences of the putative Anopheles gambiae apyrase confer salivary gland expression in Drosophila melanogaster. J Biol Chem. Aug 4; 275 (31): 23861-8.

Arcà B., Lombardo F., Capurro M., della Torre A., Spanos L., Dimopoulos G., Louis C., James A.A., Coluzzi M. (1999) Salivary gland-specific gene expression in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Parassitologia, Sep; 41 (1-3): 483-7. Review.

Arcà B., Lombardo F., Capurro M., della Torre A., Dimopoulos G., James A.A. and Coluzzi M. (1999) Trapping cDNAs encoding secreted proteins from the salivary glands of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96: 1516-1521.

Perozzi G., Murgia C., Barilà D., Cerase J., Felicioli F., Lombardo F. (1997) Molecular analysis of novel genes differentially expressed during gut development. In: The gut as a model in cell and molecular biology (Wright, H. W., ed.), Falk. Symp. Vol. 94, cap. 10, pp. 99-109. Kluwer Academic Publ., Lancaster, U.K.