Developed skills and lines of research

Andrea Cavalli graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology in 1996 from the University of Bologna.

He obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1999 at the same university. He is currently Full Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna. He collaborates with the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia  (IIT) in Genoa, where he coordinates the research activities of the CompuNet group, an international network of computational scientists, dedicated to multiscale computation in life science and material science.

Prof. Cavalli is involved in the development of theoretical methods and application of computational tools in drug discovery. Within interdisciplinary projects, this research activity has led to the discovery of several biologically active molecules in different therapeutic areas: Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and neglected tropical diseases. His scientific activity to date is documented by more than 170 papers, published in very prestigious journals. He is now mainly applying his computational skills to find better CFTR correctors; in particular, he is oriented to discover the most effective molecule to block RNF5, a protein that hinders the recovery mechanism of mutated CFTR-F508del.

Projects funded by FFC Ricerca as Principal Investigator or as Research Manager

FFC#2/2015
RNF5/RMA1 ubiquitin ligase as a drug target for mutant CFTR rescue

Projects financed by FFC Ricerca as a partner

FFC#9/2019
Theratyping orphan mutations in Italian cystic fibrosis patients: efficacy of CFTR modulators and RNF5 inhibitors

FFC#9/2017
RNF5 inhibitors as potential drugs for Cystic Fibrosis basic defect

Publications from FFC Research projects

Haque AKMA, Dewerth A, Antony JS, et al., Chemically modified hCFTR mRNAs recuperate lung function in a mouse model of cystic fibrosis. Sci Rep. 2018 Nov 13;8(1):16776. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-34960-0.