Riccardo Parra
Post Doc
tel. +39 050 509453
fax +39 050 509417
riccardo.parra
nano.cnr .it
Address
Laboratorio NEST
Complesso San Silvestro
Piazza San Silvestro 12 - 56127 Pisa
tel. 39 050 509480
sito internet: www.laboratorionest.it
Running projects
My current project is the development of a fluorescent sensor capable to sense the activity of Cre recombinase, a wide used tool in genomic tailoring to specifically drive the expression of a gene product spatially and temporally .
Research interests
My Research interest is the investigation of the Consciousness. To date, I used molecular biologic tools combined with confocal imaging and two-photon imaging to investigate synaptic plasticity, learning and neurological diseases such as Rett syndrome.
Biographical sketch
In my academic studies during MSc. school, I learned to generate DNA recombinant constructs and to analyze their behavior in cell cultures as well as in the whole animal. Then, I choose to apply my knowledge in molecular biology to investigate synaptic plasticity. To do this, in my Ph. D. school in Neurobiology, I studied the trafficking properties of two proteins involved in periphery-to-nucleus signaling in neurons: ERK1 and ERK2.
Finally, in my first Post Doctoral fellowship, I'm generating a fluorescent DNA construct, capable to sense the activity of Cre recombinase. In the Cre/Lox system, this enzyme is broadly used to activate or deactivate in a spatial and temporal specific manner, proteins of interest to study their role in the investigated processes. Our tool will allow to discriminate cells where Cre recombinase was activated from other cells, simply by observing their fluorescence.
Selected publications
Localization and trafficking of fluorescently tagged ERK1 and ERK2. Marchi M*, Parra R*, Costa M, Ratto GM. Methods Mol Biol. 2010;661:287-301. PMID: 20811990 * Equal contributors.
The N-terminal domain of ERK1 accounts for the functional differences with ERK2. Marchi M, D'Antoni A, Formentini I, Parra R, Brambilla R, Ratto GM, Costa M. PLoS One. 2008;3(12):e3873. Epub 2008 Dec 4. PMID: 19052640