FEDERICO DEL GALLO, Ph.D.
Personal Information:
Contact Information:
Date of Birth: 1986/01/26
Place of Birth: Cortona (AR), Italy
Marital Status: Single
Citizenship: Italian
Department of Neurological and
Movement Sciences
Anatomy and Histology Section
University of Verona
Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy
Tel.: +39-045-8027264
Mobile: +39-329-5431257
E-mail: [email protected]
CURRENT POSITION
Postdoctoral fellow at University of Verona, Department of Neurological and Movement
Sciences, Anatomy and Histology Section.
Research Project: “Electrophysiological correlates of experimental models of epilepsy” cofunded by European projects:
 “MicroRNAs in the Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention of Epilepsy". Lead
Scientist: Prof. Paolo Francesco Fabene.
 “DESIRE: Development and Epilepsy – Strategies for innovative research to
improve diagnosis, prevention and treatment in children with difficult to treat
epilepsy”. Lead Scientists: Prof. Marina Bentivoglio, Prof. Giuseppe Bertini & Prof.
Bernardo Dalla Bernardina
EDUCATION
2014/02/21
Ph.D. in Physiology at University of Milan, Department of Health Sciences.
Ph.D. Thesis: “Sleep and Neurodegenerative Disorders in Animal Models”.
Supervisor: Prof. Imeri L., MD.
2011/01
Admitted to the Ph.D. program in Physiology at University of Milan with a
full fellowship, under mentoring of prof. Imeri L., MD.
2010/10/26
Master degree summa cum laude in Experimental Psychology and
Cognitive Science at University of Padua, with a dissertation in sleep
physiology, titled “Prion Protein and Sleep: an experimental study in
transgenic mouse”.
Supervisor: prof. Mascetti G. .
Federico Del Gallo
CURRICULUM VITAE
1
2008/10/09
Bachelor degree summa cum laude in Cognitive Psychology and
Psychobiology at University of Padua, with a dissertation in animal
cognition, titled “Are chicks logical? Transitive inference in domestic chicks
(Gallus Gallus)”.
Supervisors: Prof. Regolin L. e Dr. Daisley J. N. .
2000-2005
Scientific High School Degree at Liceo Scientifico G. da Castiglione,
Castiglione Fiorentino (AR), Italy.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
2014/05-08
Scholarship holder at University of Verona, Department of Neurological and
Movement Sciences, Anatomy and Histology Section.
Scholarship title: “MicroRNAs in the Pathogenesis, Treatment and
Prevention of Epilepsy" FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1, Grant
Agreement N. 602130 EpiMiRNA - HEALTH-F2-2013-602130. Lead
Scientist: Prof. Fabene P.F. .
2009-2010
Research Assistant at University of Milan, Department of Health Sciences.
Studies of sleep-wake cycle in a murine model of prion pathology (e.g.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease).
2007-2008
Research Assistant at University of Padua, Department of General
Psychology (Comparative Psychology Research Group, CPRG). Studies of
complex cognitive ability in animal models (domestic chicks, Gallus Gallus).
RESEARCH INTERESTS



Study of sleep-wake cycle alteration in animal models of neurodegenerative
disorders, such as Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD),
Alzheimer disease (AD).
Study of neural-immune system and sleep interactions.
Study of behavioral and electrophysiological alterations in animal models of
neuropathlogical conditions (e.g. temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and Alzheimer
disease).
TRAINING COURSES
2014/11
Course on animal testing and care at “C.I.R.S.A.L” , University of Verona.
2014/09
Health and Prevention Service course at University of Verona: “Role of
collective protection devices in medical and biological laboratory”.
Federico Del Gallo
CURRICULUM VITAE
2
2012/03
Basics and applications of histological and immunofluorescent staining on
cells.
2011/05
UNAMSI course on science journalism.
2010/11
Opening course on animal testing at "Mario Negri" Institute for
Pharmacological Research (IRFMN), Milan.
SKILLS
Technical Skills
Laboratory Animal Handling
Extensive background on rodents (mice and rats) and birds (domestic chicks).
Drug Administration
Intraperitoneal (IP), intravenous (IV), subcutaneous (SC) and intracerebral ventricular
(ICV) injections.
Animal Behavior
Background on: animal cognition; behavior testing for assessing spatial and recognition
memory (e.g. Morris Water Maze, Radial Maze Novel Object Recognition, Fear
Conditioning) and anxiety (e.g. Elevated Plus Maze, Open-Field); sleep deprivation
schedules (e.g. Gentle Handling).
Animal surgery
 telemetry surgery in rodents;
 stereotaxic surgery for chronic implant of electrodes and transducers for acquisition of
physiological parameters, such as EEG EKG and EMG;
 stereotaxic surgery for chronic implant of cannulas for intra-cerebral-ventricular (ICV)
injection.
Analysis of sleep behavior
 visual and automated sleep scoring ;
 assessment of sleep architecture;
 EEG spectral analysis;
 sleep spindles analysis.
Other skills
 histological and immunofluorescent staining;
 cryostat cutting;
 rodents perfusion
 rodents blood sampling.
Statistical Skills
Good knowledge of parametric and non-parametric tests commonly used in biomedical
research (univariate and multivariate ANOVA, Student t-test, Chi-squared, etc.).
Federico Del Gallo
CURRICULUM VITAE
3
Computer skills
 Operating Systems: Windows and Macintosh OS, and relative MS Office (Word, Excel,
PowerPoint) and iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) suites;
 Statistic Software: IBM SPSS, R, SigmaPlot and GraphPad Prism;
 Software for electrophysiological recording and analyses: ICELUS, Dataquest A.R.T.™
System, EEGlab toolbox for Matlab; TWin; Sirenia Pinnacle Tecnology;
 Animal behavior tracking software: the Ethovision 9, the Observer XT (Noldus);
 Graphic and Video editors: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Corel Draw, Adobe
Illustrator;
 Others: Reference Manager and Endnote.
Linguistic Skills
Italian – Mother tongue
English – Good
French – Basic
PUBBLICATIONS
1- Del Gallo F.*, Bouybayoune I.*, Mantovani S.*, Bertani I., Restelli E., Comerio L.,
Tapella L., Baracchi F., Fernández-Borges N., Mangieri M., Bisighini C., Beznoussenko
G.V., Paladini A., Balducci C., Micotti E., Forloni G., Castilla J., Fiordaliso F., Tagliavini
F., Imeri L., Chiesa R. (2015). Transgenic fatal familial insomnia mice indicate prion
infectivity-independent mechanisms of pathogenesis and phenotypic expression of
disease. PLoS Pathogens 11(4), e1004796. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004796.
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
2- Del Gallo F., Opp M.R., Imeri L. (2014). The reciprocal link between sleep and immune
response. Arch. Itali. Biol. 152(2-3), 93-102. doi: 10.12871/000298292014234.
3- Del Gallo F., Mantovani S., Chiesa R., Imeri L. (2012). Sleep-wake cycle alterations in
transgenic mice carrying the murine homolog of the mutation linked to fatal familial
insomnia. J. Sleep Res. 21 (suppl.1), 121.
In preparation:
-
Prion protein regulation of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in transgenic,
knockout, and wild type mice and the role of GABAergic neurons in the
periaqueductal grey.
Federico Del Gallo
CURRICULUM VITAE
4
ORAL COMUNICATIONS
1-
Del Gallo F.; Verso un modello animale di Insonnia Fatale Familiare (EN.: “Toward
an animal model of Fatal Familial Insomnia.”). 23th National Congress of the Italian
Association of Sleep Medicine (AIMS). Roma, 13 November 2013.
2-
Del Gallo F.; Alterazioni del ciclo veglia-sonno in topi transgenici recanti l’omologo
della mutazione legata all’insonnia fatale familiare. (EN.: “Sleep-wake cycle
alterations in transgenic mice carrying the murine homolog of the mutation linked to
fatal familial insomnia.”). 17th Annual Meeting of the Italian Sleep Research Society
(SIRS). Bologna, 17 March 2012.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
1-
Bouybayoune I., Mantovani S., Del Gallo F., Bertani I., Tapella L., Comerio L.,
Restelli E., Bianchi S., Fernández-Borges N., Mangieri M., Bisighini C., Beznusenko
G., Paladini A., Balducci C., Micotti E., Forloni G., Castilla J., Fiordaliso F., Tagliavini
F., Imeri L. and Chiesa R.; Transgenic Fatal Familial Insomnia Mice Indicate Prionindependent Mechanisms of Pathogenesis and Phenotypic Expression of Disease.
10th Congress of PRION, May 27-30, 2014.
2-
Del Gallo F., Mantovani S., Chiesa R., Imeri L.; Topi transgenici recanti l’omologo
murino della mutazione associata a insonnia fatale familiare mostrano alterazioni del
ciclo veglia-sonno. (EN.: “Transgenic mice carrying the murine homolog of the
mutation linked to Fatal Familial Insomnia show sleep-wake cycle alterations.”). 23th
National Congress of the Italian Association of Sleep Medicine (AIMS). Roma, 13
November 2013.
3-
Del Gallo F., Chiesa R., Salmona M., Imeri L.; Alterazioni del ciclo veglia-sonno in
seguito a somministrazione di oligomeri di β-amiloide nel topo (EN.: “Sleep-wake
cycle alterations following administration of β-amyloid oligomers in the mouse.”).
Abstracts book of 18th annual meeting of the Italian Sleep Research Society (SIRS).
Roma, 16 March 2013:2.
4-
Del Gallo F., Mantovani S., Chiesa R., Imeri L.; Sleep-wake cycle alterations in
transgenic mice carrying the murine homolog of the mutation linked to fatal familial
insomnia. 21th Congress of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS). Journal
of Sleep Research, 2012. 21 - Suppl.1 (1-371); P380.
5-
Del Gallo F., Mantovani S., Chiesa R., Imeri L.; A mouse model of fatal familial
insomnia (FFI): REM sleep reduction in transgenic mice; Abstracts book of 6th
Federico Del Gallo
CURRICULUM VITAE
5
annual meeting of Young Researchers in Physiology (YRP). Sestri Levante, 30
March – 1 June 2012.
6-
Del Gallo F., Baracchi F., Mantovani S., Chiesa R., Imeri L.; Alterazioni del ciclo
veglia-sonno in topi transgenici recanti l’omologo della mutazione legata all’insonnia
fatale familiare. (EN.:“Alterations of sleep-wake cycle in transgenic mice carrying the
murine homolog linked to Fatal Familial Insomnia.”) ; Abstracts book of 17th annual
meeting of the Italian Sleep Research Society (SIRS). Bologna, 17-18 March 2012:6.
7-
Del Gallo F., Baracchi F., Mantovani S., Chiesa R., Imeri L.; Prion protein and REM
sleep regulation: an experimental study in a transgenic mouse model; Abstracts book
of 5th annual meeting of Young Researchers in Physiology (YRP). Sestri Levante, 810 June 2011.
8-
Del Gallo F., Baracchi F., Mantovani S., Chiesa R., Imeri L.; Alterazioni della
proteina prionica inducono perdita del sonno REM e della sua compensazione dopo
deprivazione. (EN.: “Alterations in the expression of prion protein induce loss of REM
sleep and of its compensation after sleep deprivation.”). Abstracts book of 16th
annual meeting of the Italian Sleep Research Society (SIRS). L’Aquila, 27-28 May
2011: 30.
9-
Baracchi F., Ferrari L., Rabello Casali K., Mantovani S., Tobaldini E., Del Gallo F.,
Chiesa R., Montano N., Imeri L.; Disregulation of prion protein expression alters REM
sleep homeostasis in aged mice. 20th Congress of the European Sleep Research
Society (ESRS). Journal of Sleep Research, 2010. Suppl.2 (1-378); P382.
10- Ferrari L., Baracchi F., Casali K., Mantovani S., Tobaldini E., Del Gallo F., Chiesa R.,
Montano N., Imeri L.; Ruolo della proteina prionica nell’omeostasi del sonno REM.
(EN.: “Role of prion protein in the homeostasis of REM sleep.”). Abstracts book of
14th annual meeting of the Italian Sleep Research Society (SIRS). Bologna, 14-15
November 2009: 30.
11- Del Gallo F., Daisley J., Vallortigara G. & Regolin L.; Laterality and Transitive
Inference Performance in the Domestic Chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus); I
Workshop on Cognition and Evolution – COGEVO. Rovereto (TN), 12-13 June 2009.
EDITORIAL ACTIVITY
Peer-reviewer for Plos One
2014 - 2015
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Italian Sleep Research Society (SIRS)
Italian Association of Sleep Medicine (AIMS)
Federico Del Gallo
CURRICULUM VITAE
2009 - 2013
since 2013
6
PLACE, DATE
SIGNATURE
Verona, 28/04/2015
Federico Del Gallo
CURRICULUM VITAE
7