Andrea Musacchio (born July 11, 1964) is an Italian structural biologist. He is Max Planck director at th
Institute of Molecular Physiology
in Dortmund. He is also Honorary Professor at th
Center for Medical Biotechnology
at th
University of Duisburg-Essen
He was named

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

member in 2009.

Education and career

Musacchio received a

Laurea In Italy, the ''laurea'' is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremo ...

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

from the

University of Rome Tor Vergata University of Rome Tor Vergata, also known as the University of Tor Vergata (), is a public research university located in Rome, Italy. Located in the southeastern suburb of Rome, the university combines a liberal arts tradition with emphasis on ...

''summa'' ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 1990, and earned his Ph.D., ''summa'' ''cum laude'', from the

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

in 1995 working at the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

. For his

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

studies he joined Stephen C. Harrison laboratory at the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. In 1999 he returned to Italy to found his laboratory at th
European Institute of Oncology
in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, where he started working on mechanisms of

cell division Cell division is the process by which a parent cell (biology), cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukar ...

. He was a

Young Investigator from 2000-2004. Musacchio moved to Dortmund in 2011 to direct the Department of Mechanistic Cell Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology

Research

Musacchio approached structural biology during his Ph.D., contributing to the determination of the first crystallographic structures of the SH3 and PH domains. During his post-doctoral training, he was involved in the determination of the

clathrin Clathrin is a protein that plays a role in the formation of coated vesicles. Clathrin was first isolated by Barbara Pearse in 1976. It forms a triskelion shape composed of three clathrin heavy chains and three light chains. When the triskel ...

triskelion structure, one of the first studies combining

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...

and

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing i ...

. As an independent scientist, his interests focused on the understanding of the molecular basis of

mitosis Mitosis () is a part of the cell cycle in eukaryote, eukaryotic cells in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new Cell nucleus, nuclei. Cell division by mitosis is an equational division which gives rise to genetically identic ...

, with emphasis on the

spindle assembly checkpoint The spindle checkpoint, also known as the metaphase-to-anaphase transition, the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), the metaphase checkpoint, or the mitotic checkpoint, is a cell cycle checkpoint during metaphase of mitosis or meiosis that preven ...

. Since the early days, Musacchio's lab adopted a multi-disciplinary approach merging structural biology, biochemistry and cellular biology, this way gaining comprehensive views on protein functions in living cells. He is best known for his work on Mad1/Mad2 complexes, which led to the formulation of the ''template model'', and for his contributions to the understanding of the role of the kinase Aurora B, Mps1 and Haspin in

. In 2008, the structure of the Ndc80 complex set the foundation of a new line of his investigations on

kinetochore A kinetochore (, ) is a flared oblique-shaped protein structure associated with duplicated chromatids in eukaryotic cells where the spindle fibers, which can be thought of as the ropes pulling chromosomes apart, attach during cell division to ...

assembly and attachment to

microtubule Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nanometer, nm and have an inner diameter bet ...

Personal life

Musacchio spent his childhood in Rome, where he grew to be a strong supporter of

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

. He has started embracing

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. He is married and father of two boys.

References

External links

The Department of Mechanistic Cell Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular PhysiologyAll structures deposited at the PDB repository by Andrea MusacchioResearchGate profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musacchio, Andrea 21st-century Italian biologists 1964 births Living people Scientists from Rome Heidelberg University alumni Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Max Planck Institute directors University of Rome Tor Vergata alumni