Team members Who we areAnna Maria Papini

Anna Maria Papini

Short Biography:

A.M. Papini is a bioorganic chemist skilled in peptide science focused on chemical biology.
After completion of an International PhD degree in 1990, under the supervision of Professor Luis Moroder at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, she launched in 1991 a comprehensive peptide-based translational research program and founded the first laboratory of peptide chemistry at the University of Florence. She was Associate Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry (2001-2019) and in 2020, she was appointed Full Professor at the University of Florence. She is Laureate of the “Chaire d’Excellence” 2009-2014 of the French “Agence Nationale de la Recherche” (unique for chemistry out of 16) for the project “PepKit: Development of peptide-based-diagnostic kits for autoimmune diseases”. The project was developed at the Université Paris-Seine (now CY Cergy Paris Université), where she was appointed Full Professor of Bioorganic chemistry, founding and being Director of the platform PeptLab@UCP, born to support start-up companies involved in R&D of peptide-based products (2008-2020). In 2009, she started the French-Italian Interdepartmental Research Unit of Peptide and Protein Chemistry and Biology (PeptLab) that she coordinates, associating the Departments of Chemistry and NeuroFarBa (Section of Pharmaceutical Sciences) of the University of Florence and PeptLab@UCP in France. In June 2019, at PeptLab@UCP, she launched a facility for large-scale production of peptides with the Liberty Pro MW-assisted synthesizer, the technology she trusted for its unique performances since she purchased, in 2005, the first MW-peptide synthesizer installed in Europe, at PeptLab at the University of Florence. In recognition of her outstanding contribution to peptide science, in 2008, she was the recipient of the Leonidas Zervas Award of the European Peptide Society and of the First Dimitrios Theodoropoulos Memorial Award of the Hellenic Peptide Society. She was awarded the Rita Levi Montalcini Prize 2019-2021 for the binational cooperation between Italy and Israel to develop her program aimed to characterise possible unknown bacterial and/or viral infections triggering immune-mediated diseases using aberrantly glycosylated peptide antigens and recently recognized with the Barry Cohen Prize 2024 for Medicinal Chemistry/Chemical Biology that was attributed by the Israel Chemical Society on July 18, 2024 at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, after presenting a keynote lecture. Since 2013, she is delegate of the International Affairs and Erasmus Program of the School of Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences of the University of Florence supporting and orienting students interested in international education pathways and since 2021 she is Director of the Phd Programme in Chemical Sciences of the University of Florence, recently confirmed for a second term. She contributed to launch several double degrees in Chemical sciences (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Burgos, Rouen Normandie, Paris Sciences et Lettres). She has been Treasurer and Member of the Executive Committee of the European Peptide Society (2011-2020) and still is Councillor of the American Peptide Society (2019-2025). In 2015, she was founding member of the Italian Peptide Society and she was appointed scientific officer of the executive committee since 2017. She was chair with Phil E. Dawson of the 2016 Gordon Research Conference “Crossing Barriers by Peptide Science for Health and Wellness” and on August 25-31, 2024 she will cochair the 14^th International Peptide Symposium/37^th European Peptide Symposium (www.eps2024.com) that will take place in Florence (Italy). In 2003 she cofounded the first spin-off of the University of Florence, EspiKem Srl, that managed the valorisation of a peptide-based anti-aging cosmeceutical product, Definisse KP1, developed in her academic laboratories and launched on the global market on September 2023 by Relife, the aesthetic medicine division of Menarini group. Moreover, she cofounded and acted as CSO of the start-up Toscana Biomarkers Srl (2007-2014), with the R&D mission to innovate and license peptide-based intellectual property for diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. Distinguished for activity in technology transfer, she received the 2009 Frost & Sullivan Excellence in Research Award in the European autoimmune disease diagnostics market and the Vespucci Award of the Region Toscana for the development of a company aimed to research and produce innovative peptide-based diagnostic methodologies for autoimmune diseases. In 2016, she founded and is Director of the Toscana EU-Region technology transfer Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics and Life Sciences (MoD&LS) where she coordinated the standardisation of the HPLC-MS analyses of ca. 60 endocrine disrupting chemicals and their metabolites in more than 4000 biological fluids of children and their mothers (urines, sera and breast milk) to associate their presence with children disease development such as autism, obesity, and insulin resistance. Moreover, she has been scientific supervisor of the PeptLab and Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici Spa joint laboratory PeptFarm, for GMP large-scale peptide synthesis in Vicenza. Recently thanks to a cooperation with Protein Technologies AB (Sweden) she has been involved in a joint PhD to develop sustainable strategies for peptide production with a holistic approach integrating green solvents and reagents, automatic peptide synthesizers and low impact purification platforms. She is coauthor of 370 peer-reviewed articles (WOS 30/06/2024) and of 11 filed patents. She presented worldwide 140 invited lectures in International Symposia, Universities, and Research Centres (28 aimed to technology transfer). Her laboratory has communicated 59 oral and 251 poster presentations at international symposia. In her independent career, she has trained 38 PhDs and 82 undergraduate students (55 M.Sc. and 27 B.Sc.), 16 post-doctoral fellows and 11 research assistants, with focus on the characterisation of aberrant post-translational modifications and biomarkers of immune-mediated diseases, structure-activity relationship studies, and efficient synthetic strategies for metabolic stabilization by strategic side-chain to side-chain cyclization. Her PhD students have received important distinctions, including the 2023 “Sara Lapi” Award for the Best Master Thesis in Chemistry, the 2016 Louis Forest “Prix de la Chancellerie des Universités de Paris”, the 2005 Bert Schram Young Investigator Honorable Mention, and the 1999 Bruce W. Erickson Award from the American Peptide Society.

AM PAPINI CV JUNE 2024 FULL EN

AM-PAPINI-PUBLICATIONS-JOURNALS-PATENTS 1983-2024 JUNE 30 AMP

PAPINI AM INVITED ORAL & POSTER PRESENTATIONS JUNE 2024

Address:

University of Florence,

Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff",

via della Lastruccia 13, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze)

Contacts:

T. +39 055 457 3561; +393478844146

email: annamaria.papini@unifi.it