Marta Filizola
Marta Filizola in 2016
Born
Nola (Naples), (Italy)
NationalityItalian, American
EducationPh.D., II University of Naples, 1999.
Alma materUniversity of Naples "Federico II", II University of Naples
Occupation(s)Dean of The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Professor, Department of Neuroscience
EmployerIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Known forChemistry, Computational Biology, Biophysics
Websitehttp://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/marta-filizola

Marta Filizola is a computational biophysicist who studies membrane proteins.[1] Filizola's research concerns drug discovery the application of methods of computational chemistry and theoretical chemistry to biochemical and biomedical problems.[2][3]

Filizola is the dean of the graduate school of biomedical sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.[4] Where she is a professor of pharmacological sciences and neuroscience, and also the Sharon and Frederick A. Klingenstein-Nathan G. Kase, MD Professor.

She is best known for her work aimed at providing mechanistic insight into the structure, dynamics, and function of G protein-coupled receptors[5][6] using methods such as molecular modeling, bioinformatics, cheminformatics, enhanced molecular dynamics simulations, and rational drug design approaches. The Filizola laboratory's research has steadily been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2005.

As of 2016, Filizola is active in five research projects funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).[7]

Education

A native of Italy, Filizola received her bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from the University Federico II in Naples[8] (class of 1993), and earned her PhD in computational chemistry from the Second University of Naples in 1999, though conducting most of her doctoral studies at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia[9] in Barcelona, Spain. She went on to pursue a postdoctorate in computational biophysics from the Molecular Research Institute[10] in California, moving to New York City in 2001.

Career

Filizola joined the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM) as an instructor in 2002. She continued in this role at Weill Medical College (WMC) of Cornell University,[11] also in New York City, until she was promoted assistant professor in 2005. She returned to Mount Sinai as an assistant professor in the Department of Structural and Chemical Biology, where she was later promoted associate professor (with tenure since January 2013), and then full professor in 2014.[12] Following three years as co-director of the Structural/Chemical Biology and Molecular Design (SMD) Graduate Program, and one year as co-director of the Biophysics and Systems Pharmacology (BSP) Graduate Program,[13] she was appointed dean of the graduate school of biomedical sciences[14] at Mount Sinai in May 2016. Dr. Filizola has also served as grant reviewer for NIH and other agencies for over 10 years. Currently, she is a regular study section member of the Biophysics of Neural Systems (BPNS) study section of NIH.[15]

Awards and honors

Filizola's awards and honors include the title of European doctor in biotechnology[16] from the European Association for Higher Education in Biotechnology in Genova, Italy (1999), a National Research Service Award from NIDA (2002), The Doctor Harold and Golden Lamport Award for Excellence in Basic Research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine (2008), and an Independent Scientist Award from NIDA (2009–present).[17] She is also a member of the Faculty of 1000 for Pharmacology and Drug Discovery since 2013.[18]

Research

Filizola's research program is mainly focused on G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), which are the targets for about half of all currently used drugs. Special effort in her lab has been devoted to the subfamily of opioid receptors to discover/design novel painkillers with reduced abuse liability and other adverse effects. A second important line of investigation in the Filizola lab is on beta3 integrins towards the discovery of novel therapeutics to treat renal, hematologic, neoplastic, bone, and/or fibrotic diseases.

To obtain rigorous mechanistic insight into the structure, dynamics, and function of GPCRs and beta3 integrins, the Filizola lab uses several computational structural biology tools, ranging from molecular modeling, bioinformatics, cheminformatics, molecular dynamics simulations, a variety of enhanced sampling algorithms, and rational drug design approaches.[19] Much of the work is done in close collaboration with major experimental labs with whom we have established longstanding synergistic ties.

Dr. Filizola is the author of over 100 original papers and chapters in the areas of computational chemistry/biophysics and drug discovery,[20] as well as the editor of 2 books: "G Protein-Coupled Receptors - Modeling and Simulation"[21] and "G Protein-Coupled Receptors in Drug Discovery".[22] She is also an inventor, with a number of patents to her credit.[23]

Publications (partial list)

References

  1. ↑ "TACC supercomputers simulate organization of membrane proteins at cell surface". Phys.org. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Researchers discover clues to developing more effective antipsychotic drugs". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  3. ↑ "Chemical Compound Shows Promise As Alternative To Opioid Pain Relievers". Biocompare.com. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  4. ↑ "Marta Filizola - The Mount Sinai Hospital". The Mount Sinai Hospital. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  5. ↑ Filizola, M. (2015). G Protein-Coupled Receptors in Drug Discovery - Methods and | Marta Filizola | Springer. Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 1335. Springer.com. pp. v. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2914-6. ISBN 978-1-4939-2913-9. PMID 26478939. S2CID 3678528. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  6. ↑ G Protein-Coupled Receptors - Modeling and Simulation | Marta Filizola | Springer. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Vol. 796. Springer.com. 2014. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7423-0. ISBN 978-94-007-7422-3. S2CID 27706436. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  7. ↑ "Query Form - NIH RePORTER - NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results". Projectreporter.nih.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  8. ↑ "Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II - Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II". Chemicalsciences.unina.it. Archived from the original on 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  9. ↑ "UPC. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. BarcelonaTech". Upc.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  10. ↑ "Molecular Research Institute". Manta.com. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  11. ↑ "Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College". Physiology.med.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  12. ↑ "Marta Filizola - The Mount Sinai Hospital". Mountsinai.org. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  13. ↑ "Biophysics & Systems Pharmacology | Icahn School of Medicine". Icahn.mssm.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  14. ↑ "Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences | Icahn School of Medicine". Icahn.mssm.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  15. ↑ "CSR Membership Roster". Internet.csr.nih.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  16. ↑ Bryce CF, Aghion J, Bos P, Celada F, Griffin M, Hull R (2004). "European doctorate in biotechnology: Added value for european academia and industry". Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. 32 (5): 352–7. doi:10.1002/bmb.2004.494032050397. PMID 21706754.
  17. ↑ Filizola, Marta. "Structural Aspects of Oligomerization in the Function of GPCRs - Marta Filizola". Grantome.com. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  18. ↑ "Marta Filizola: Faculty Member in Molecular Pharmacology - F1000Prime". F1000.com. 2013-03-06. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  19. ↑ "Filizola Laboratory | Computer-Aided Structural Biology and Drug Design". Filizolalab.org. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  20. ↑ "Welcome to". Scopus.com. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  21. ↑ Filizola, Marta (2013-11-11). G Protein-Coupled Receptors - Modeling and Simulation | Marta Filizola. Springer. ISBN 9789400774223. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  22. ↑ Filizola, Marta (2015-08-11). G Protein-Coupled Receptors in Drug Discovery - Methods and | Marta Filizola. Springer. ISBN 9781493929139. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  23. ↑ "Patents by Inventor Marta Filizola". Patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
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