Cristina Airoldi - CV

Cristina Airoldi – short CV and publication list
July 2015
Cristina Airoldi
Bergamo, February 13, 1979
via Antonio Gramsci 5/c, 23879, Verderio, LC, ITALY
cell. +39 3287184950
tel. +39 02 6448 3422; 3303
[email protected]
Academic Education and Training

November 2003, MSc in Industrial Biotechnologies at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Department
of Biotechnology and Biosciences (Design and synthesis of new potential Ras inhibitors derived from
carbohydrates, Mentor Prof. F. Nicotra) – final grade: 110/110 magna cum laude

January 2007, PhD in Chemistry at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology
and Biosciences (Development of new potential antitumor drugs based on Ras protein inhibition,
Mentor Prof. F. Nicotra)

2005, stage with Prof. J. Jimenez-Barbero (CIB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)

2006, stage with Prof. H. Molinari (University of Verona).
Employment and Research Experiences
Cristina Airoldi received the degree in Industrial Biotechnology discussing an experimental thesis on the
design and synthesis of bioactive compounds. She further deepened her scientific knowledge and skills
attending a PhD course in Chemistry. During this period, she had the opportunity to complement the
synthetic work with the NMR characterization of the interaction between the potential inhibitors she had
prepared and the target protein. To this purpose, she reached a European leader group in carbohydrateprotein interaction studies (Prof. J. Jimenez-Barbero’s group, CIB, CSIC, Madrid). Having acquired such
new skills, she moved to this new research field, contributing in a fundamental way to the creation and
development of a new bio-NMR laboratory at the Dept. of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of
Milano-Bicocca. Now she is responsible for the scientific activity of this lab and for the maintenances of the
equipment.
From October 1st 2012 she is Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry at Milano-Bicocca University,
Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences.
Her current scientific interests focus on (1) the NMR spectroscopy characterization of biologically relevant
molecular interactions and recognition processes, with also the support of other techniques, such as circular
dicroism, surface plasmon resonance, mass spectrometry, IR spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, (2)
the NMR spectroscopy conformational analysis of bioactive compounds, (3) the application of NMR
spectroscopy to the identification of metabolic markers of pathologies by metabolomics studies on cells and
biofluids and to the metabolic profiling of food matrices.
The most significant result obtained until now is the development of a new NMR methodology, recently
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Cristina Airoldi – short CV and publication list
July 2015
patented, for the characterization of molecular recognition processes working on living cells. This
methodology, combining the use of STD experiment and an HR-MAS probe, improves the versatility of the
STD experiment and expands its use to samples containing living cells deriving from solid tissues.
A second relevant scientific contribution concerns the setup of NMR protocols for the study of the molecular
interaction between amyloid peptide oligomers and their ligands (in particular molecules with antiamyloidogenic properties).
A very recent research field concerns the application of NMR to metabolomics studies on cells extracts and
biofluids for the identification of biomarkers of human pathologies.
To date, Cristina Airoldi is author of 45 papers on international journals, 4 scientific book chapters, 3
patents, 1 report concerning the ICSU Symposium “Global Scientific Challenges: Perspectives from Young
Scientists”, attended as IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) representative, and 100
communications in national and international meetings, among which 18 oral communications. She is first
author in 15 papers and corresponding author of 8. H-index: 15.
Funding
 CARIPLO Foundation, project 2013-0820 (3/2014-2/2016): BALf metabolomics in chronic lung
rejection: an innovative approach to identify predictive markers and sub-phenotypes.
Role: Responsabile for UNIMIB unit.

Italian Health Ministry, VIBRIO (12/2014-11/2016): Role of colonization and infection on viral
exacerbations and hospitalizations in patients with bronchiectasis.
Role: Responsabile for UNIMIB unit.

FAR-QC (2015-2016): Targeting of Gastrin-Releasing Peptide receptor expressing tumors: NMR
characterization of Bombesin/GRP-R interaction.
Role: PI.
Awards and Honors:

2007: selected as IUPAC representative at the ICSU Symposium “Global Scientific Challenges:
Perspectives from Young Scientists”, April 4-6, Lindau, Germany.

2013: selected for the participation to the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting 2013, 30 June – 5
July 2013, Lindau, Germany, (edition dedicated to Chemistry).
In this context she has been also selected by Prof. Wuthrich for an oral communication in his
masterclass titled “Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, Structural Biology and Medical Diagnosis”.

2013: Gastone de Santis Prize, assigned by the Division of Chemistry of Biological Systems of the
Italian Chemical Society.

2014: invited to the Bürgenstock Conference 2014.

2015: elected as member of the Steering Committee of the Interdivisional Group of Magnetic
Resonances (GIRM) of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) (2015-2017).
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Cristina Airoldi – short CV and publication list
July 2015
Publications:
1. Peri F., Airoldi C., Colombo S., Martegani E., Van Neuren A. S., Stein M., Marinzi C., Nicotra F.,
Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Sugar-Derived Ras Inhibitors, ChemBioChem, 2005, 6,
1839-1848.
2. Peri F., Airoldi C., Colombo S., Mari S., Jimenez-Barbero J., Martegani M., Nicotra F., Sugar-derived
Ras inhibitors: Group Epitope Mapping by NMR Spectroscopy and Biological Evaluation, Eur. J. Org.
Chem., 2006, 16, 3707-3720.
3. Nicotra F., Airoldi C., Cardona F. Synthesis of C- and S-Glycosides, in Comprehensive Glycoscience,
Kamerling J. P. Ed., Elsevier, 2007, 647-683.
4. Cipolla L., Reis Fernandes M., Gregori M., Airoldi C. and. Nicotra F., Synthesis and biological
evaluation of a small library of nojirimycin-derived bicyclic iminosugars, Carbohydr. Res., 2007, 342,
12-13, 1813-1830.
5. Airoldi C., Palmioli A., D’Urzo A., Colombo S., Vanoni M., Martegani E., and Peri F., Glucose-derived
Ras pathway inhibitors: evidence of Ras-ligand binding and Ras-GEF (Cdc25) interaction inhibition,
ChemBioChem, 2007, 8, 1376-1379.
6. Nicotra F., La Ferla B., Airoldi C. Aminated Sugars, Synthesis and Biological Activity, In “Amino
Group Chemistry, Ricci A. Ed., Wiley-VCH, 2008, 257-304.
7. Araujo A. C., Nicotra F., Airoldi C., Costa B., Giagnoni G., Fumagalli P., Cipolla L., Synthesis and
biological evaluation of novel rigid 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-dione chimeric scaffolds, Eur. J. Org. Chem.,
2008, 635–639.
8. Cipolla L., Peri F., Airoldi C., Glycoconjugates in cancer therapy. Anti Canc Agents Med Chem, 2008,
8, 1, 92-121.
9. Cipolla L., Airoldi C., Galliani P., Polissi A., Nicotra F., Re LPS biogenetic pathway: Enzyme
characterisation and Synthetic efforts towards inhibitors, Curr. Org. Chem., 2008, 12, 7, 576-600.
10. Cipolla L., Araújo A. C., Airoldi C., Bini D., Pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepine as a scaffold for the
design and synthesis of anti-tumour drugs, Anti Canc Agents Med Chem, 2009, 9, 1, 1-31.
11. Cipolla L., Polissi A., Airoldi C., Galliani P., Sperandeo P. and Nicotra F., The Kdo biosynthetic
pathway toward OM biogenesis as target in antibacterial drug design and development, Curr. Drug
Discovery Technol., 2009, 6, 1, 19-33.
12. Mueller C., Gomez-Zurita Frau M. A., Ballinari D., Colombo S., Bitto A., Martegani E., Airoldi C., van
Neuren A. S., Stein M., Weiser J., Battistini C. and Peri F., Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation
of Levoglucosenone-derived Ras Activation Inhibitors, ChemMedChem, 2009, 4, 524-528.
13. La Ferla B., Russo L., Airoldi C., Nicotra F., Solid-phase supported mimic of GDP-L-galactose,
Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 2009, 20, 744–745.
14. Palmioli A. Sacco E., Airoldi C., Di Nicolantonio F., D'Urzo A., Shirasawa S., Sasazuki T., Di Domizio
A., De Gioia L., Martegani E., Bardelli A., Peri F., Vanoni M., Selective cytotoxicity of a byclic Ras
inhibitor in cancer cells expressing K-RasG13D, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 2009, 386, 593-597.
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Cristina Airoldi – short CV and publication list
July 2015
15. Nicotra F., Cipolla L., La Ferla B., Airoldi C., Zona C., Orsato A., Shaikh N., Russo L., Carbohydrate
scaffolds in chemical genetic studies, J. Biotechnol., 2009, 144, 3, 234-241.
16. Airoldi C., Merlo S., Nicotra F., Synthesis of 3-deoxy-D-threopentofuranose 5-phosphate a substrate of
arabinose 5-phosphate isomerase, J. Carbohydr. Chem., 2010, 29, 30–38.
17. Airoldi C., Sommaruga S., Merlo S., Sperandeo P., Cipolla L., Polissi A., Nicotra F., Targeting Bacterial
Membranes: NMR Spectroscopy Characterization of Substrate Recognition and Binding Requirements
of D-arabinose 5 Phosphate Isomerase, Chem. Eur. J., 2010, 16, 6, 1897-1902.
18. Colombo S., Palmioli A., Airoldi C., Tisi R., Fantinato S., Olivieri S., De Gioia L., Martegani E., Peri F.,
Structure-Activity Studies on Arylamides and Arysulfonamides Ras Inhibitors, Curr. cancer drug targets,
2010, 10, 2, 192-199.
19. Cipolla L., La Ferla B., Airoldi C., Zona C., Orsato A., Shaikh N., Russo L., Nicotra F., Carbohydrate
Mimetics and Scaffolds: Sweet Spots in Medicinal Chemistry, Future Med. Chem., 2010, 2, 4, 587-599.
20. Re F., Airoldi C., Zona C., Quattrocchi N., La Ferla B., Nicotra F., Masserini M., Beta Amyloid
Aggregation Inhibitors: Small Molecules as Candidate Drugs for Therapy of Alzheimer’s Disease, Curr.
Med. Chem., 2010, 17, 27, 2990-3006.
21. Airoldi C., Colombo L., Manzoni C., Sironi E., Natalello A., Doglia S. M., Forloni G., Tagliavini F., Del
Favero E., Cantù L., Nicotra F., Salmona M., Tetracycline prevents Aβ oligomer toxicity through an
atypical supramolecular interaction, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, 9, 463-472.
22. Cipolla L., Airoldi C., Bini D., Gregori M., Marcelo F., Jimenez Barbero J., Nicotra F., Fructose-based
proline analogues: exploring the prolyl trans/cis-amide rotamer population in model peptides, Eur. J.
Org. Chem. 2011, 128–136.
23. La Ferla B., Airoldi C., Zona C., Orsato A., Cardona F., Merlo S., Sironi E., D’Orazio G., Nicotra F.
Natural glycoconjugates with antitumor activity, Nat. Prod. Rep., 2011, 28, 630-648.
24. Cipolla L., Polissi A., Airoldi C., Gabrielli L., Merlo S., Nicotra F., New targets for antibacterial design:
Kdo biosynthesis and LPS machinery transport to the cell surface, Curr. Med. Chem., 2011, 18, 830-852.
25. Araújo A. C., P. Rauter A. Nicotra F., Airoldi C., Costa B., Cipolla L., Sugar-Based Enantiomeric and
Conformationally Constrained Pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]-Benzodiazepines as Potential GABAA Ligands, J.
Med. Chem., 2011, 54, 1266-1275.
26. Airoldi C., Sommaruga S., Merlo S., Sperandeo P., Cipolla L., Polissi A., Nicotra F., Targeting
Bacterial Membranes: Identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa D-Arabinose-5P Isomerase and
NMR Characterisation of its Substrate Recognition and Binding Properties, ChemBioChem, 2011,
12, 719–727.
27. Airoldi C., Sironi E., La Ferla B., Cardona F., Nicotra F., Aβ monomers, oligomers and fibrils: Structural
Features, Curr. Bioact. Compd., 2011, 7, 3, 198-213.
28. Airoldi C., Cardona F., Sironi E., Colombo L., Salmona M., Silva A., Nicotra F., La Ferla B., cis-glycofused benzopyran compounds as new amyloid-β peptide ligands, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 10266–
10268.
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Cristina Airoldi – short CV and publication list
July 2015
29. Manzoni C., Colombo L., Bigini B., Diana V., Cagnotto A., Messa M., Lupi M., Bonetto V., Pignataro
M., Airoldi C., Sironi E., Williams A., Salmona M., The molecular assembly of amyloid Aβ controls its
neurotoxicity and binding to cellular proteins, PlosOne, 2011, 6, 9, e24909.
30. Airoldi C.,* Zona C., Sironi E., Colombo L., Messa M., Aurilia D., Gregori M., Masserini M., Salmona
M., Nicotra F., La Ferla B.,* Curcumin derivatives as new ligands of Aβ peptides, J. Biotechnol., 2011,
156, 317-324.
31. Airoldi C.,* Giovannardi S., La Ferla B., Jiménez-Barbero J., Nicotra F.,* Saturation Transfer Difference
NMR experiments of membrane proteins in living cells under HR-MAS conditions: The interaction of
the SGLT1 cotransporter with its ligands, Chem. Eur. J., 2011, 17, 48, 13395-13399.
32. Chiaradonna F., Moresco R.M., Airoldi C., Gaglio D., Palorini R., Nicotra F., Messa C., Alberghina L.,
From cancer metabolism to new biomarkers and drug targets, Biotechnol. Adv., 2012, 30, 30-51.
33. Le Droumaguet B., Nicolas J., Brambilla D., Mura S., Maksimenko A., De Kimpe L., Salvati E., Zona
C., Airoldi C., Canovi M., Gobbi M., Noiray M., La Ferla B., Nicotra F., Scheper W., Flores O.,
Masserini M., Andrieux K., Couvreur P., Versatile and Efficient Targeting Using a Single
Nanoparticulate Platform: Application to Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease, ACSNano, 2012, 6, 7, 58665879.
34. Airoldi C.,* Merlo S., Sironi E., Nicotra F., Jiménez-Barbero J.,* NMR Protein-Ligand Interaction
Studies under Non-Homogeneous Conditions for Biomaterial Generation: A Model For Artificial LectinCarbohydrate Recognition, J. Mater. Sci. Eng. B, 2012, 2 , 12, 618-625.
35. Airoldi C.,* Sironi E., Dias C., Marcelo F., Martins A., Rauter A. P., Nicotra F., Jimenez-Barbero J.,
Natural Compounds against Alzheimer´s Disease: Molecular Recognition of Aβ1–42 Peptide by Salvia
sclareoides Extract and its Major Component, Rosmarinic Acid, as Investigated by NMR, Chem. Asian
J., 2013, 8, 3, 596-602.
36. Airoldi C., Cardona F., Sironi E., Colombo L., Salmona M., Cambianica I., Ornaghi F., Sancini G.,
Nicotra F., La Ferla B., Fluorescent amyloid β-peptide ligand derivatives as potential diagnostic tools for
Alzheimer’s disease, Pure Appl. Chem., 2013, 85, 9, 1813-1823.
37. Gabrielli L., Airoldi C., Sperandeo P., Gianera S., Polissi A., Nicotra F., Cipolla L., Phosphonate
analogues of arabinose 5-phosphate: putative ligands for arabinose 5-phosphate isomerases?, 2013, Eur.
J. Org. Chem., 34, 7776–7784.
38. Gabrielli L., Merlo S., Airoldi C., Sperandeo P., Gianera S., Polissi A., Nicotra F., Holler T. P., Woodard
R. W. Cipolla L., Arabinose 5-phosphate isomerase as a target for antibacterial design: studies with
substrate analogues and inhibitors, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2014, 22, 8, 2576-2583.
39. Cipolla L., Airoldi C., Sperandeo P., Gianera S., Polissi A., Nicotra F., Gabrielli L., Synthesis and
biological evaluation of arabinose 5-phosphate mimics modified at position five, Carb. Res, 2014, in
press.
40. Merlo S., Sironi E., Colombo L., Cardona F., Martorana A. M., Salmona M., La Ferla B., Airoldi C.*
Cis-glyco-fused benzopyran compounds as hit compounds for the development of new therapeutic and
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Cristina Airoldi – short CV and publication list
diagnostic
tools
against
10.1002/cplu.201400035.
July 2015
neurodegenerative
invited
for
a
diseases,
special
issue
ChemPlusChem,
title
“Early
2014,
Career
DOI:
Series”
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2192-6506/homepage/2688_earlycareer.html
41. La Ferla B., Airoldi C., D’Orazio G., 2014, “Curcumin derivatives: Aβ-ligands as potential diagnostic
and therapeutic tools for Alzheimer disease”. In Curcumin, Synthesis, Emerging Role in Pain
Management and Health Implications (pp. 87-101). Daniel Loic Pouliquen.
42. Airoldi C., Mourtas S., Cardona F., Zona C., Sironi E., D’Orazio G., Markoutsa E., Nicotra F.,
Antimisiaris S. G., La Ferla B., Nanoliposomes presenting on surface a cis-glycofused benzopyran
compound display binding affinity and aggregation inhibition ability towards Amyloid β 1-42 peptide,
Eur. J. Med. Chem., 2014, 85, 43-50.
43. Sironi E., Colombo L., Lompo A., Messa M., Bonanomi M., Regonesi M. E., Salmona M., Airoldi C.*,
Natural compounds against neurodegenerative diseases: molecular characterization of the interaction of
catechins from green tea with Aβ1-42, PrP106-126 and ataxin-3 oligomers, Chem. Eur. J., 2014, 20,
13793–13800.
44. Jesus A. R., Dias C., Matos A. M., de Almeida R. F. M., Viana A. S., Marcelo F., Ribeiro R. T., Macedo
M. P., Airoldi C., Nicotra F., Martins A., Cabrita E. J., Jiménez-Barbero J., Pilar Rauter A., 8-β-DGlucopyranosylgenistein: Synthesis, Antidiabetic Activity and Molecular Interaction with Islet Amyloid
Polypeptide and Amyloid β-Peptide (1-42), J. Med. Chem., 2014, 57, 9463–9472.
45. Airoldi C.*, Tripodi F., Guzzi G., Nicastro R., Coccetti P.*, NMR analysis for budding yeast
metabolomics: a rapid method for sample preparation, Mol. BioSyst., 2015, 11, 379-383.
46. Airoldi C.*, Merlo S., Sironi E., NMR molecular recognition studies for the elucidation of protein and
nucleic acid structure and function, in e-Book Series on Applications of NMR Spectroscopy Volume 2",
editors: Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, Prof. M. Iqbal Choudhary, Bentham Science Publishers, USA, 2015,
147-219; DOI: 10.2174/97816080596521150201.
47. Nicastro R. Tripodi F., Guzzi C., Reghellin V., Khoomrung S., Capusoni C., Compagno C., Airoldi C.,
Nielsen J., Alberghina L., Coccetti P., Enhanced amino acid utilization sustains growth of cells lacking
Snf1/AMPK, BBA - Molecular Cell Research, 2015, 1853, 7, 1615–162510.1016/j.bbamcr.2015.03.014.
48. Gallo V., Intini N., Mastrorilli P., Latronico M., Scapicchio P., Triggiani M., Bevilacqua V., Fanizzi P.,
Acquotti D., Airoldi C., Arnesano F., Assfalg M., Benevelli F., Bertelli D., Cagliani L. R., Casadei L.,
Cesare Marincola F., Colafemmina G., Consonni R., Cosentino C., Davalli S., Angelica S., De Pascali,
D'Aiuto V., Faccini A., Gobetto R., Lamanna R., Liguori F., Longobardi F., Mallamace D., Mazzei P.,
Menegazzo I., Milone S., Mucci A., Napoli C., Pertinhez T. A., Rizzuti A., Rocchigiani L., Schievano
E., Sciubba F., Sobolev A. S., Tenori L., Valerio M., Performance assessment in fingerprinting and
multi component quantitative NMR analyses, Anal. Chem., 2015, 87, 6709–6717.
49. Datta A., Ghosh A., Airoldi C., Sperandeo P., Mroue K., Jimenez-Barbero J., Kundu P., Ramamoorthy
a., De Novo Design of Antimicrobial Peptides: Insights into Membrane Permeabilization,
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Cristina Airoldi – short CV and publication list
July 2015
Lipopolysaccharide Fragmentation and Application in Plant Disease Control, Scientific reports, 2015,
Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 11951.
*corresponding author
Patents:
1. Nicotra F., Airoldi C., La Ferla B., Jimenez-Barbero J., Giovannardi S., NMR based method with HRMAS probe on intact cells. 2010, RM2010A000647; 2011, WO/2012/077087.
2. Nicotra F., Masserini M., La Ferla B., Airoldi C., Cardona F., Sironi E., New tricyclic compounds,
process for their manufacture and their use as ligands of the beta amyloid peptides. 2011,
RM2011A00026; 2012, WO 2012164476 A1.
3. Grases Santos Silva Rauter A. P., Xavier de Jesus A. R., Mendes Martin A. I., dos Santos Dias C. A.,
Tavares Ribeiro R. J., Borges de Lemos Macedo M. P., Guerra Justino J. A., Mota Filipe H. D., Amaro
Pinto R. M., Nogueira Sepodes B. M., Patrício Goulart de Medeiros M. A., Jimenéz Barbero J., Airoldi
C., Nicotra F. New C-glycosylpolyphenol antidiabetic agents, effect on glucose tolerance and interaction
with beta-amyloid. Therapeutic applications of the synthesized agent(s) and of Genista tenera ethyl
acetate extracts containing some of those agents, 2012, PT106202; 2013, WO 2013132470 A2.
Other publications:
Airoldi C., Global Scientific Challenges: Perspectives from Young Scientists, Chemistry International - The
News Magazine of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), 2007, 28, 5, 24-26.
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