GUIDO PAPA

Guido Papa graduated in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Siena and obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste, in the laboratory of Dr. Oscar Burrone. During his doctoral training, and through collaborations with leading groups including the Borodavka lab at the University of Oxford (UK), he developed reverse genetics and genome editing approaches to dissect the molecular mechanisms governing the assembly of viral replication factories, establishing liquid-liquid phase separation and biomolecular condensate formation as key principles of their organisation.

After his PhD, he moved to Cambridge (UK) as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Leo James at the Medical Research Council – Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB), where he studied the interaction between viruses and the intracellular immune system using multiple viral models, including rotavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and HIV.

During this period, he expanded his research towards the development of novel Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) strategies to selectively target proteins and protein assemblies within cells. In particular, he contributed to the development of innovative approaches capable of recruiting specific E3 ligases into protein aggregates, inducing the targeted degradation of individual proteins or entire complexes. These technologies have enabled direct intervention on dynamic cellular structures that were previously difficult to access using conventional pharmacological approaches.

In September 2025, he returned to Italy to establish his independent research group, supported by the Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS-2) Starting Grant. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Milan and a Junior Group Leader at the National Institute of Molecular Genetics (INGM) in Milan.

His current research focuses on the development of novel protein degradation technologies applied to the study of protein assemblies, including biomolecular condensates, to understand and modulate their function. The goal of his laboratory is to identify the biological principles that govern the molecular organization of the cell and to leverage them to develop new therapeutic strategies, with potential impact across a wide range of human diseases.

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