Paola Picotti (born 1977) is an Italian biologist who is Professor for Molecular Systems Biology at
ETH Zürich
(colloquially)
, former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule
, image = ETHZ.JPG
, image_size =
, established =
, type = Public
, budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021)
, rector = Günther Dissertori
, president = Joël Mesot
, ac ...
. She is Deputy Head of the Institute for Molecular Systems Biology. Her research investigates how the conformational changes of proteins impact cellular networks. She was awarded the 2020 ETH Zürich Rössler Prize and the 2019
EMBO Gold Medal
The EMBO Gold Medal is an annual award of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) given to young scientists for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. Laureates receive a medal and €10,000 and are invited to rec ...
.
Early life and education
Picotti grew up in
Udine
Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...
. Her mother was a mathematics teacher and her father worked in an electronics company. Picotti studied pharmaceutical chemistry at the
University of Padua
The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...
, and graduated in 2001. She then moved into biotechnology, working alongside Angelo Fontana on her doctoral research. She joined the laboratory of Ruedi Aebersold in the Institute for Molecular Systems Biology at
ETH Zürich
(colloquially)
, former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule
, image = ETHZ.JPG
, image_size =
, established =
, type = Public
, budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021)
, rector = Günther Dissertori
, president = Joël Mesot
, ac ...
. She was appointed a scientific advisor at Aebersold's spin-out company Biognosys.
Research and career
In 2011, Picotti was appointed to the faculty at ETH Zürich, first as an assistant professor and subsequently as an associate professor in molecular systems biology. In particular, Picotti works in proteomics, the large scale analysis of thousands of proteins at a given moment. Whilst proteomics offers the potential for wide-reaching analysis, detail is lost because of a lack of information about the specific proteins themselves.
Picotti pioneered the combination of limited proteolysis and mass spectrometry (so-called "LiP-MS"), which generates a structural barcode (a proteolytic fingerprint) for sentinel proteins. Sentinel proteins are proteins whose biological markers change depending on the activation state of a cellular process. By analysing literature for sentinels that were involved in diverse yeast pathways, Picotti identified a few hundred that she could measure using an assay. She has shown that this technique can be used to unravel the thermosensitivity of proteins, as well as used it to realise a map of protein-metabolite interactions. LiP-MS can monitor for the conformational change of proteins in complex environments, allowing for the visualisation of the dynamic 3D proteomes. She has since used LiP-MS to study protein aggregation in neurodegenerative disease.
Awards and honours
* 2014 ''The Analytical Scientists Top 40 under 40
* 2016
Human Proteome Organization The Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) is an international consortium of national proteomics research associations, government researchers, academic institutions, and industry partners. The organization was launched in February 2001, and it promotes ...
Robert J. Cotter Award
* 2017 Swiss Society for Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Friedrich-Miescher Award
* 2018 European Proteomics Association Juan Pablo Albar Protein Pioneer Award
* 2019
EMBO Gold Medal
The EMBO Gold Medal is an annual award of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) given to young scientists for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. Laureates receive a medal and €10,000 and are invited to rec ...
* 2019
European Research Council
The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...
Consolidator Grant
* 2020
Rössler Prize
The Rössler Prize, offered by the ETH Zurich Foundation, is a monetary prize that has been awarded annually since 2009 to a promising young tenured professor of the ETH Zurich in the middle of an accelerating career.German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
* 2021
Human Proteome Organization The Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) is an international consortium of national proteomics research associations, government researchers, academic institutions, and industry partners. The organization was launched in February 2001, and it promotes ...
Discovery in Proteomics Award
* 2021
Falling Walls
The Falling Walls Conference is an annual science event in Berlin, Germany, that coincides with the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989). The one-day scientific conference showcases the research work of international scient ...