Daniele Piomelli is an Italian-born American scientist. He studied

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

in New York City, with James H. Schwartz and

Eric R. Kandel Eric Richard Kandel (; born Erich Richard Kandel, November 7, 1929) is an Austrian-born American medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry, a neuroscientist and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surge ...

at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (PhD, 1983-1988) and later with

Paul Greengard Paul Greengard (December 11, 1925 – April 13, 2019) was an American neuroscientist best known for his work on the molecular and cellular function of neurons. In 2000, Greengard, Arvid Carlsson and Eric Kandel were awarded the Nobel Prize for Ph ...

at the

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

(Post-doc, 1988-1990). Two of his mentors (Kandel and Greengard) received in 2000 the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

for their contributions to medicine. After working at the INSERM in Paris (1990-1995) and at the

Neurosciences Institute The Neurosciences Institute (NSI) was a small, nonprofit scientific research organization that investigated basic issues in neuroscience. Active mainly between 1981 and 2012, NSI sponsored theoretical, computational, and experimental work on consc ...

in La Jolla (1995-1998) with Nobel Prize winner

Gerald Edelman Gerald Maurice Edelman (; July 1, 1929 – May 17, 2014) was an American biologist who shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work with Rodney Robert Porter on the immune system. Edelman's Nobel Prize-winning research concern ...

, he joined the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, where he is now Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences and Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry. He is also founding director of the department of Drug Discovery and Development (D3) at the

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia The Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) (in English: Italian Institute of Technology) is a scientific research centre based in Genoa (Italy, EU). Its main goal is the advancement of science, in Italy and worldwide, through projects and discoveri ...

in Genova, Italy. He is also the editor of '' Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research'' and a board member of the non-profit

International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines The International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines (IACM), formerly known as the ''International Association for Cannabis as a Medicine'', is a Non-profit organization, non-profit Learned society, scientific society founded in Cologne in 200 ...

. Piomelli has made important contributions to the understanding of

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...

mediator function in the

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

and

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

. He elucidated the

biochemical pathways In biochemistry, a metabolic pathway is a linked series of chemical reactions occurring within a cell. The reactants, products, and intermediates of an enzymatic reaction are known as metabolites, which are modified by a sequence of chemical reac ...

involved in the formation and deactivation of the lipid-derived endocannabinoids – anandamide and

2-arachidonoylglycerol 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) is an endocannabinoid, an endogenous agonist of the CB1 receptor and the primary endogenous ligand for the CB2 receptor. It is an ester formed from the omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid and glycerol. It is present ...

– and uncovered various physiological roles played by these compounds. Additionally, he described the functions of two lipid amides – palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) and

oleoylethanolamide Oleoylethanolamide (OEA) is an endogenous peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha ( PPAR-α) agonist. It is a naturally occurring ethanolamide lipid that regulates feeding and body weight in vertebrates ranging from mice to pythons. O ...

– in the control of pain and feeding, and identified the

cellular receptors In biochemistry and pharmacology, receptors are chemical structures, composed of protein, that receive and transduce signals that may be integrated into biological systems. These signals are typically chemical messengers which bind to a recepto ...

involved in such functions. Collaborating with Italian chemists, Giorgio Tarzia (

University of Urbino The University of Urbino "Carlo Bo" ( it, Università degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo", ''UniUrb'') is an Italian university located in Urbino, a walled hill-town in the region of Marche, located in the north-eastern part of central Italy. The ...

‘Carlo Bo’) and Marco Mor ( University of Parma), he developed the first systemically active inhibitors of the degradation of anandamide ( Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase inhibitors), PEA (N-Acylethanolamide Acid Amidase inhibitors), and ceramide (Acid Ceramidase inhibitors).Realini N, Solorzano C, Pagliuca C, Pizzirani D, Armirotti A, Luciani R, Costi MP, Bandiera T, Piomelli D (2013) “Discovery of highly potent acid ceramidase inhibitors with in vitro tumor chemosensitizing activity”. Science Reports 3:1035. . Daniele Piomelli is scientific cofounder of Kadmus Pharmaceuticals and Thesan Pharmaceuticals.

References

External links

Laboratory webpage

Neurotree
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piomelli, Daniele Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American neuroscientists Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni University of California, Irvine faculty