IGB Webinar 27 Giugno 2022Professore Associato in Biochimica Generale

Dipartimento di Agraria – Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Napoli
Ceinge Biotecnologie Avanzate, Napoli

Francesco Errico graduated in 1999 in Biological Sciences at the University of Naples “Federico II”.
In 2004 he obtained the PhD in “Cellular and Molecular Biology and Pathology” at Federico II University,
carried out at the laboratory of Molecular Biology and Animal Genetics directed by Prof. Roberto Di
Lauro (Stazione Zoologica A. Dohrn, Naples). In this period, he began to cultivate his scientific interest
in studying the role of the atypical D-amino acid, D-aspartate, in the nervous system of mammals,
generating a knockout mouse model for the D-aspartate oxidase (Ddo-/-) gene, which encodes the
enzyme responsible for the endogenous degradation of D-aspartate.
Since 2006, as a post-doc at the Translational Neuroscience laboratory led by Prof. Alessandro Usiello
(Ceinge Biotecnologie Avanzate, Naples), he has deepened the analysis of the neuromodulatory role
of D-aspartate and its involvement in biochemical, functional and pathophysiological processes
dependent on NMDA receptors, both in preclinical models and in humans. During this period, the
funding of a project “Future in Research (FIRB) 2010”, allowed him to access a tenure track at the
University of Naples “Federico II”.
In the period 2012-2017, Francesco Errico was a Fixed-Term Researcher (RTDa) at the Department of
Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology. Then, in 2018 he moved to the Department of
Agriculture (University of Naples “Federico II”) as RTDb where, to date, he is Associate Professor in
Biochemistry.
Currently, his research activity is focused on the analysis of an altered metabolism of neuroactive Dand
L-amino acids and other natural biochemical compounds in the brain, serum and cerebrospinal
fluid of patients with psychiatric, neurodegenerative and neuromuscular disorders, and related animal
models.