Phd in BIOCHEMISTRY

email: alberto.boffi@uniroma1.it
phone: 06 49910990
building: CU027
room: 222

Alberto Boffi, was born in Rome on september 13, 1960. He obtained MD degree in the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in july 1985.
He was “Maître de conference associé” in the University of Marseille “Luminy II” in 1986.
Research fellows of the National Research Council, Molecular Biology Center since 1991.
Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" since 2000; confirmed in 2003.
Director of the Department of Biochemistry 2015-2021
SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY
Alberto Boffi started his career at the Department of Biochemical Sciences of the University "La Sapienza" in Rome, where he was involved in the study of structure function relationships in heme proteins by physico-chemical methods. As a “maître de conference associé” at the University of Marseille he studied the characterization of proteins of the respiratory chain onf the marine bacterium Pseudomonas nautica. In the following years, the research was focussed on the analysis pf the structural and functional properties of hemoproteins by spectroscopic methods coupled to the genetic engineering of the active sites of hemoglobins. The research activity led to the publication of about 150 scientific papers on international peer reviewed journals and to establish close collaborations and period of research activity in the following laboratories:
- Laboratoire de Oceanologie, Université de Luminy II, Marseille, France (1986-1988).
- Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort (NC), USA (1988).
- AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill (NJ), USA (1991-1996).
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NY), USA (1991-).
- INFM ed Istituto di Fisica dell’Università di Palermo (1993-).
The present research activities are focussed on:
- Structure and fucntion of novel hemeproteins. In particular, novel hemeproteins from procariots have been identified cloned and expressed, their structure and catalytic activities have been determined. The application of monoxygenase/peroxidase activity to biotrasformations for industrial applications is being pursued.
- Protein spectroscopy. This line of research involves the application of UV-Vis, FTIR, CD, fluorescence and resonance Raman spectroscopies to the study of the protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions.
- Biocatalysis. The application of heme and flavin enzymes to biotransformations has recently been focussed on oxidation processes of industrial relevance.
Alberto Boffi has been coordinator of the following projects:
- FIRB 2003, Enzimes and organometallics for sustainable chemistry (2.6 Meuros, 7 participating units).
- COFIN 2004, Bacterial hemoglobins, a versatile tool for biotechnological applications (0.15 Meuros, 4 participating units).
- - progetto flagship Nanomax 2012-2016 (1,7 Meuros, 6 participating Units)
- Progetto PNRR CN3, coordinatore nazionale Spoke2 2022- (30,4 Meuros, 17 participating units)