A. Personal Statement
His prevailing interests is the study of molecular mechanisms of gene expression particularly in the field of redox signalling and cell oxidative stress. Now, he is focusing on some aspects linking gene expression and DNA repair and its relevance in molecular oncology and cancer. In particular, from 1998, he contributed to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms, involving the main mammalian Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endonuclease, i.e. APE1, in coordinating cellular responses to oxidative stress in different cell models. His background includes molecular and cellular biology as well as biochemistry techniques and –OMICS technologies to characterize the relationship between structure and function of proteins involved in gene expression and DNA repair. He coordinated several research projects granted from Telethon, AIRC, FIRB, FISR, NIH, PRIN, ASI and worked as a Referee for several different International Journals, including: Oncogene, Nucleic Acids Research, Proteomics, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, etc. Actually, from 2010, his research activity is focused on characterizing the non-canonical roles of DNA repair enzymes of the Base Excision Repair pathway in association with RNA metabolism. He is currently head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and DNA repair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Udine, Italy, coordinating the work of three Post-Doctoral fellows and two PhD students. Prof. G. Tell authored more than 150 publications in international peer reviewed journals and several international congress communications, concerning control of gene expression and DNA damage response during response to oxidative stress and genotoxic treatments. In 55% of these publications Prof. Tell gave a central contribution, acting as a first or last name. Total Impact Factor >500. The value of citation index (h-index) according to Scopus is 46 with a mean citation value of 39.50.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS IN SCIENCE. Prof Tell has contributed to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms, involving the main mammalian Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endonuclease APE1, in coordinating cellular responses to oxidative stress using different cancer cell models. He discovered one of the most important non-canonical roles of this protein in miRNA processing highly relevant in cancer biology.
B. Positions and Honors
- Academic Years 1988-1992 Laurea in Biological Sciences at the University of Trieste, Italy, Magna cum Laude on March 13th 1993.
- 1993 – 1994 Research Scientist (Postgraduate fellow) supported by Oncological Research Center (C.R.O.) Aviano, PN, Italy
- Research assistant (tenure track), April 1995-March 2000, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, School of Medicine, University of Udine, Italy;
- 1996, visiting scientist in the lab of Dr. David Segal, Experimental Immunology Branch, Division of Basic Sciences, NCI, NIH, Bethesda (MD) USA;
- March 2000-September 2003, Assistant Professor (tenure track) of Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Macromolecular Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of Trieste, Italy;
- September 2003-October 2005, Assistant Professor (tenure track) of Molecular Biology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, School of Medicine, University of Udine, Italy;
- June-August 2006, Visiting Professor in the lab of Prof. Sankar Mitra. School of Medicine-Sealy Center For Molecular Science And Department Of Human Biological Chemistry And Genetics. University of Texas, Galveston, TX, USA;
- July 2009, Visiting Professor in the lab of Prof. Pablo Radicella. CEA, Institut de Radiobiologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire, UMR217 CNRS, F-92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France;
- From 2010-present, Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and DNA repair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Udine, Italy (Web site: https://gianlucatell.wixsite.com/labtell);
- July-September 2011, Visiting Research Scholar in the lab of Prof. Bruce Demple. Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA;
- From November 2012-September 2018, he is Director of the B.Sc. of Biotechnology at the University of Udine, Italy;
- From November 2005-December 2010, he is Associate Professor (tenure track) of Molecular Biology, at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, School of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy;
- from January 2011-December 2016 he is Associate Professor (tenure track) of Molecular Biology, at the Department of Medical and Biological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy;
- 12/02/2014, winner of the national habilitation competition as Full Professor in Biochemistry (BIO/10) and in Molecular Biology (BIO/11);
- From 25th October 2015 to 30th September 2019, he is member of the Technology Transfer Commission of the University of Udine, Italy;
- from January 2017- November 2018 he is Associate Professor (tenure track) of Molecular Biology, at the Department of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy;
- From October 2017-present he is Deputy of the Head of the Department of Medicine for Research, at the Department of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy;
- From December 2018-present he is Full Professor (tenure track) of Molecular Biology, at the Department of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
Others:
- 1994 (January) -1995 (May) Second lieutenant, Italian Army, anti-aircraft artillery, Sabaudia (Rome) and 5th Regiment “A. Pe. Cam. Superga” of Artillery in Udine, Italy
- 1997 – 1998 Teaching assistant, Biochemical and Molecular Gene Expression Techniques, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, Udine University Medical School, Udine – Italy
- 1997 – 1999 Teaching assistant, Molecular Immunology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, Udine University Medical School, Udine – Italy
- 1998 – 1999 Deputy Associate Professor, General Pathology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, Udine University Medical School, Udine – Italy
Professional memberships
- From 2000-present American Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
- From 2000-present Italian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SIB)
- 2003-2008 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR)
- 2004 Human Proteome Organization (HUPO)
- From 2004-present Italian Human Proteome Organization (IHUPO)
- 2011-2015 Visiting Research Scholar at Stonybrook University, Stonybrook, NY-USA
- From 2014-2020, Member of the Scientific Board of the Italian Research Cancer Association (AIRC)
- From 2015-preent, Member of the Scientific Board of the Fondazione Italiana Fegato, FIF-ONLUS, Trieste, Italy
Honors and Awards including invitations as speaker in International Congresses
- 2008-2012 Consultant, Ministry of Science (Georgia)
- 2008 Invited Speaker at “Anticancer Research Congress” in Kos, Greece;
- 2009 Invited Speaker at “3rd US/EU-DNA repair meeting” in Galveston, TX-USA;
- 2010 Invited Speaker at INBB meeting in Rome, Italy;
- 2011 UICC Yamagiwa-Yoshida Memorial International Cancer Study Grant funded by the Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Company Ltd., Tokyo and the Japan National Committee for UICC
- 2011-present Consultant, Ministry of University and Research (Italy);
- March 2018, Inviter Speaker at EEMGS International Conference, Potsdam, Germany;
- August 2018, Invited Speaker by the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, SB, RAS, NSU Novosibirsk Russia, to give a lecture at the 11th International Multiconference BGRS/SB-2018 “Bioinformatics of Genome Regulation and Structure/Systems Biology”, at Novosibirsk, Russia.
B. Contributions to Science and publication performances
Prof Tell has more than 180 scientific publications. Peer reviewed Publications and citations parameters:
- First author publications: 25
- Last/corresponding author publications: 60
- Total publications in peer reviewed international journals: 166
- Peer-reviewed publications at this link: ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8845-6448.
- Scopus Author ID: 7005032283
- Sum of the Times Cited (Scopus): 7111
- Average Citations per Item (Scopus): 39.50
- h-index (Scopus): 46
Most cited paper: The intracellular localization of APE1/Ref-1: More than a passive phenomenon? Tell, G; Damante, G; Caldwell, D; et al. ANTIOXIDANTS & REDOX SIGNALING (2005), 7, 367-384. Number of citations: 264 with a mean of 21.82/year.
Paper with highest Impact Factor: Antoniali G, Serra F, Lirussi L, Tanaka M, D'Ambrosio C, Zhang S, Radovic S, Dalla E, Ciani Y, Scaloni A, Li M, Piazza S, Tell G. Mammalian APE1 controls miRNA processing and its interactome is linked to cancer RNA metabolism. Nature Communications (2017) Oct 6;8(1):797. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00842-8. PubMed PMID: 28986522; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5630600. Impact Factor: 12.1
Journals with mid-high Impact Factor in which Prof. G. Tell published as first or as corresponding author:
1. Nature Communications
2. Nucleic Acids Research
3. Molecular and Cellular Biology
4. Oncogene
5. Genome Biology
6. Antioxidants and Redox Signalling
7. Journal of Biological Chemistry
8. Molecular Biology of the Cell
Referee for the following granting agencies:
1. NSERC (Canada)
2. Wellcome Trust (UK)
3. Cancer Research (UK)
4. Georgia Ministry of Science
5. National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore
6. Italian MIUR
7. Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC)
8. National Academy of Sciences of Poland
C. Research Support
In the Last 10 years, Prof. Tell received grants in support of his research activities, for an overall budget of more than 2 MEuros from different granting agencies including: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), MIUR, MAE, Telethon, AIRC, Regione FVG, Private Companies.
Ongoing Research Support
- 2021-2022 Research Grant MUR, FISR2020IP_01563 (D.D. n.562 del 5.5.2020), dal titolo: “A system approach platform, based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML), for serum proteomics, radiomics and clinical data analysis to identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in SARS-CoV-2 (SCV2) infection”. Project location: University of Udine, Italy. Total funding to Dr Tell: € 52.967,91.
- 2018-2022 Research grant AIRC #IG19862 (Unveiling the role of Ape1 in regulating tumor cell resistance to chemotherapy through miRNAs processing in HCC and NSCL). The goal of this proposal is to characterize new Ape1 functions in cancer resistance associated with miRNAs and gene expression regulation. This project will evaluate the roles of Ape1 and Ape1-regulated miRNAs as predictive biomarkers in NCSLC and HCC. Project location: University of Udine, Italy. Total funding to Dr Tell: € 454.000
- 2016-2021 Research Grant R01 NIH (1R01ES026243-01), National Institutes of Health agency: National Cancer Institute Special Emphasis Panel (Ribose-seq profile and analysis of ribonucleotides in DNA of oxidatively-stressed and cancer cells). PI: Prof. Francesca Storici, Georgia Technology Institute, Atlanta, GA, USA. Co-PI: Prof. Gianluca Tell Project. The goal of this project is to map ribonucleotides embedded in DNA in normal and cancer cells and identify the mechanisms for their repair. Project location: Georgia Technology Institute, Atlanta, GA, USA and University of Udine, Italy. Total fundings to Dr. Tell: $388,190.
- 2017-2019 Crossborder cooperation program Interreg V Italia Austria Bando 2016 funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the National Funds, implemented by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, in quality of Managing Authority (PreCanMed: Generation of a Precision Cancer Medicine platform). Total funding to Dr Tell: € 205.450
Completed Research Support
- 2015-2017 Research Grant R21 NIH, National Institutes of Health agency: National Cancer Institute Special Emphasis Panel (The Ape1-NPM1 Axis and Telomere Maintenance). PI: Prof. Bruce Demple, Stony Brook University, NY, USA. Co-PI: Prof. Gianluca Tell Project. Total fundings: $429,642. The goal of this project is to unveil the role of the Ape1-NPM1 axis in telomere maintenance for development of new anticancer drugs. Project location: Stony Brook University, NY, USA and University of Udine, Italy
- 2014-2016 Research grant AIRC #IG14038 (Base Excision Repair dysregulation and cancer: Ape1 as a therapeutic target) € 169.604,0. The goal of this proposal is to identify the Ape1 regulated genes in cancer cells through RIP and ChipSeq gene analysis through NGS strategies and to identify small compounds able to interfere with the Ape1 functional network to sensitize tumor cells to anticancer therapy. Project location: University of Udine, Italy
- 2012-2015 Crossborder cooperation program Italy- Slovenia 2007- 2013 funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the National Funds, implemented by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, in quality of Managing Authority (Environmental pollutants and neurodegenerative diseases).
- 2010-12 Research grant AIRC #IG10269 – three years (Understanding the functional regulation of APE1 for development of new specific inhibitors) € 201.930,00
- 2010-12 Telethon, Grant # GGP10051B (New diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the Crigler−Najjar Syndrome Type I)
- 2010-12 Research grant PRIN_2008CCPKRP_003 (Molecular networks involving APE1 and role of post-translational modifications in fine-tuning the APE1 different functions for development of new drugs for cancer treatment). Co-PI, €34.857
- 2009-2010 ITALY/FRANCE ‘Galileo’ exchange grant from the Università Italo-Francese.
- 2008-11 Grant FIRB-National Proteomics Network RBRN07BMCT_008 (Italian Human ProteomeNet) €1.006.000
- 2008-10 EU/USA Exchange Grant by Ministry from Foreign Affairs: Role of Ape1 in Neurotoxicity of Cancer Treatments
- 2006-08 Telethon, Grant #GGP06208 (DJ-1 in neurodegeneration)
- 2005-09 Private grants from Procter & Gamble and Abiogen
- 2005-07 AIRC, (New approaches for studying genetics, early molecular diagnosis and prognostic factors relevant for HCC)
- 2005-07 Telethon, Grant #GGP05062 (Genetic determinants of bilirubin encephalopathy)
- 2005-07 National coordinator grant PRIN2005051307 (Molecular mechanisms of cell response to oxidative stress) €182900
