EDUCATION

M.S (2003) Medical Biotechnology, Università degli Studi – Milano, Italy

Ph.D. (2009) Molecular Medicine, Università degli Studi – Milano, Italy

Postdoctoral Fellow (2009-2012) Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA

Postdoctoral Fellow (2012-2015) University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

Assistant Professor (2015-2019) University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

TEACHING

BIO 341 Principles of Cell Biology

NEU 301 Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

RESEARCH

Summary of Research Activity

The goal of my research is to dissect the molecular and cellular changes that occur in postmitotic neurons during ageing and in pathological conditions, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia (ALS/FTD). ALS/FTD is a late-onset degenerative disease that specically affects motor neurons and the cortical neurons in the frontal lobe. This invariably fatal disease is characterized by motor dysfunction that progresses to muscle paralysis and death from respiratory failure. Motor symptoms are often accompanied by a varying degree of cognitive impairment that becomes overt dementia in about 30-50% of patients.

Despite much progress, the molecular mechanisms leading to the death of motor and cortical neurons in ALS/FTD remain unknown. The Fallini lab is focused on investigating the role of the cytoskeleton and of the nucleocytoplasmic transport of mRNAs and mRNA-binding proteins in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS/FTD. The lab’s long-term goal is to identify altered pathways and pathogenic mechanisms that are common to different forms of dementia, and that could be targeted for therapeutic intervention of these incurable and fatal conditions.

 To investigate these questions, we employ both primary neurons isolated from mouse embryos, as well as human neurons differentiated from inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This latter model represents an exceptionally valuable and physiologically relevant system to study human disease as iPSC-derived neurons can recapitulate cellular disease-relevant pathology in a dish.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Giampetruzzi, E.W. Danielson, V. Gumina, M. Jeon, S. Boopathy, R.H. Brown, A. Ratti, J.E. Landers, C. Fallini. Modulation of actin polymerization affects nucleocytoplasmic transport in multiple forms of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Nature Communications. (2019) 10(1):3827. PMID: 31444357
2. R. Sama*, C. Fallini*, R. Gatto*, J.E. McKeon, Y. Song, M.S. Rotunno, S. Penaranda, I. Abdurakhmanov, J.E. Landers, G. Morfini, S.T. Brady, D.A. Bosco. ALS-linked FUS exerts a gain of toxic function involving aberrant p38 MAPK activation. Scientific Reports (2017) 7(1):115.
3. Fallini, P.G. Donlin-Asp1, J.P. Rouanet, G.J. Bassell, W. Rossoll. Deficiency of the survival of motor neuron (SMN) protein impairs mRNA localization and local translation in the growth cone of motor neurons. Journal of Neuroscience (2016) 36(13):3811-20.
4. N. Smith*, N. Ticozzi*, C. Fallini*, A.S. Gkazi*, S. Topp*, K.P. Kenna, E.L. Scotter, J. Kost, P. Keagle, J.W. Miller, D. Calini, C. Vance, E.W. Danielson, C. Troakes, C. Tiloca, S. Al-Sarraj, E.A. Lewis, A. King, C. Colombrita, V. Pensato, B. Castellotti, J. de Belleroche, F. Baas, A. LMA ten Asbroek, P.C. Sapp, D. McKenna-Yasek, R.L. McLaughlin, M. Polak, S. Asress, J. Esteban-Pérez, J.L. Muñoz-Blanco, M. Simpson, SLAGEN Consortium,W. van Rheenen, F.P. Diekstra, G. Lauria, S. Duga, S. Corti, C. Cereda, L. Corrado, G. Sorarù, K.E. Morrison, K.L. Williams, G.A. Nicholson, I.P. Blair, P.A. Dion, C.S. Leblond, G.A. Rouleau, O. Hardiman, J.H. Veldink, L.H. van den Berg, A. Al-Chalabi, H. Pall, P.J. Shaw, M.R. Turner, K. Talbot, F. Taroni, A. García-Redondo, Z. Wu, J.D. Glass, C. Gellera, A. Ratti, R.H. Brown Jr., V. Silani, C.E. Shaw, J.E. Landers. Exome-wide Rare Variant Analysis Identifies TUBA4A Mutations Associated with Familial ALS. Neuron (2014) 84(2):324-31. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.09.027
5. Fallini, G.J. Bassell, W. Rossoll. The ALS disease protein TDP-43 is actively transported in motor neuron axons and regulates axon outgrowth. Human Molecular Genetics (2012) 15;21(16):3703.
6. Fallini, H. Zhang, Y. Su^*, V. Silani, R. Singer, W. Rossoll, G.J. Bassell. The Survival of Motor Neuron (SMN) Protein Interacts with the mRNA-Binding Protein HuD and Regulates the Localization of Poly(A) mRNA in Primary Motor Neuron Axons. Journal of Neuroscience (2011) 31(10):3914-25
7. Fallini, G.J. Bassell, W. Rossoll. High-efficiency transfection of cultured primary motor neurons to study protein localization, trafficking, and function. Molecular Neurodegeneration (2010) 21;5:17.

A complete list of publications is available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/claudia.fallini.1/bibliography/public/