Giulio Superti-Furga

Giulio Superti-Furga (born 17 May 1962 in Milan) is an Italian molecular and systems biologist based in Vienna, Austria, and a member of the Scientific Council of the ERC (European Research Council).^[1] He is the Scientific Director of CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Professor of Medical Systems Biology at the Medical University of Vienna.

Amongst his most significant scientific achievements to date are the elucidation of basic regulatory mechanisms of tyrosine kinases in human cancers, the identification of the molecular mechanisms of several drugs, and the discovery of fundamental organization principles of the proteome and the lipidome of higher organisms, as well as the characterization of molecular components relevant for innate immunity. His work has directly contributed to a systems-level understanding of pathogen infections in host cells and of the mechanism of action of specific drugs. He is an advocate for the adoption of systems biology approaches for medicine and in particular for drug discovery. Recently, he has argued that membrane transporters at the interface between biological systems and the environment, despite their relevance for medicine and drug discovery, are understudied and request a concerted systematic effort by the scientific community.

As scientific director of CeMM he aims at fostering a precise and predictive medicine by combining free-minded basic research with clinical expertise and made innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches his prime concern.

According to Google Scholar Giulio Superti-Furga has published more than 200 manuscripts^[2] that have been collectively cited > 28,000 times,^[3] reflected by an h-index of 75. The paper "Functional organization of the yeast proteome by systematic analysis of protein complexes" by Gavin, AC*, 36 authors, Superti-Furga G* (* shared correspondence), Nature 2002, Jan 10; 414:141-147 has been cited > 5,000 times (Google Scholar)^[4] and is a Faculty of 1000 All Time Top 10 paper in biology. His current work focuses on drug action and personalized medicine.^[5]

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0570-1768

Researcher ID: F-4755-2015

CV

Giulio Superti-Furga was educated at the German School of Milan (DSM) in Milan, Italy. He performed his undergraduate and graduate studies in Molecular Biology at the University of Zurich, at Genentech Inc. in San Francisco and at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna. Giulio Superti-Furga was a post-doctoral fellow at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and became Team Leader in 1995. From 1997 to 2000 he served as Guest Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Bologna, Italy. He co-founded the biotech companies Cellzome Inc. (2000) where he served as Scientific Director,^[6] Haplogen and Allcyte. Since 2005 he has been Scientific Director of CeMM; the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Since 2015 he has been appointed Professor of Medical Systems Biology at the Medical University of Vienna. Giulio Superti-Furga is a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the European Academy of Cancer Sciences, the Academia Europaea and chaired the board of the EMBL Alumni Association,^[7] which has ~2,500 members, until 2015. From 2013 to 2016 he was the ninth member of the Board of the University of Vienna.

In 2009, he was awarded the Knight Officer Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy for his contributions to science. In the same year, he received an Advanced Investigator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC). In 2011, Giulio Superti-Furga was awarded with the prize of the City of Vienna for natural sciences and designated as “Austria’s Scientist of the Year”. In June 2017, was awarded the title of Commendatore (Commander) dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Order of Merit of the Italian Republic) by HE Giorgio Marrapodi, Ambassador of Italy.

In 2010 Giulio Superti-Furga co-founded the biotechnology company Haplogen GmbH in Vienna (2010), a CeMM spin-off focused on haploid genetics.^[8] Haplogen Genomics, a former daughter company of Haplogen that in 2013 together with CeMM released the world's largest collection of engineered human haploid knockout cell lines for biomedical discovery (doi: 10.1038/nmeth.2609),^[9] in 2015 became part of the Horizon group as Horizon Genomics GmbH.^[10] In 2016 he co-founded the company Allcyte GmbH.

In January 2017, Giulio Superti-Furga has been appointed Member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC) for a function period of 4 years. The ERC is the most important and prestigious funding institution for basic research in any field conducted within the European Union. The ERC Scientific Council acts on behalf of the scientific community in Europe to promote creativity and innovative research.

Personal Genome

Giulio Superti-Furga's work also deals with the societal framework and ethical implications of biomedical research. At CeMM, there is a strong emphasis on a continuous dialogue with society and a responsible use of resources and technologies. Since the end of 2014, Giulio Superti-Furga chairs the steering board of the personal genome project “Genom Austria", the Austrian Personal Genome Project initiative within the Global Network of Personal Genome Projects where he also participated: his personal genome sequence PGA1 is publicly available on the website of Genom Austria. He is probably the first person whose entire own genome was given open access to in continental Europe.

Honors/Memberships

• 2004–2010: Faculty of 1000 Biology, Member, Genomics Section
• 2005: European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Member
• 2007: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member
• 2008: German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Member^[11]
• 2008: Dance Your PhD Contest,^[12] Science Magazine, Winner Professor Category
• 2009: Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy, Officer (Ufficiale)
• 2009: Austrian Society of Allergology and Immunology, Karl Landsteiner Prize^[13]
• 2009: European Research Council, Advanced Investigator Grant
• 2010: European Academy of Cancer Sciences, Fellow
• 2010: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Full Member^[14]
• 2011: Austrian Scientist of the Year^[15]
• 2011: Prize of the City of Vienna for Natural Sciences^[16]
• 2013-2016: Board of the University of Vienna, elected member
• 2014: Academia Europaea, Member^[17]
• 2017: Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy, Commander (Commendatore)

Bibliography

(selected)

• Gavin, A.C. et al.: Functional organization of the yeast proteome by systematic analysis of protein complexes. Nature. 2002; 415:141–147, doi:10.1038/415141a.
• Pluk, H. et al.: Autoinhibition of c-Abl. Cell. 2002; 108:247–259, doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(02)00623-2.
• Hantschel, O. et al.: A Myristoyl / Phosphotyrosine Switch Regulates c-Abl. Cell. 2003; 112:845–857, doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00191-0.
• Bouwmeester, T. et al.: A physical and functional map of the human TNF-/NF-B signal transduction pathway. Nature Cell Biology. 2004; 6:97–105, doi:10.1038/ncb1086.
• Gavin, A.C. et al.: Proteome survey reveals modularity of the yeast cell machinery. Nature. 2006; 440(7084):631-6, doi:10.1038/nature04532.
• Burckstummer, T. et al.: An efficient tandem affinity purification procedure for interaction proteomics in mammalian cells. Nat. Methods. 2006; 3(12):1013-9, doi:10.1038/nmeth968.
• Rix, U. et al.: Chemical proteomic profiles of the BCR-ABL inhibitors imatinib, nilotinib and dasatinib reveal novel kinase and non-kinase targets. Blood. 2007; 110(12):4055-63, doi:10.1182/blood-2007-07-102061.
• Henney, A. and Superti-Furga, G.: A network solution. Nature. 2008; 455(7214):730-1, doi:10.1038/455730a.
• Bürckstümmer, T. et al.: An orthogonal proteomic-genomic screen identifies AIM2 as a cytoplasmic DNA sensor for the inflammasome. Nat Immunol. 2009; 10(3):266-72, doi:10.1038/ni.1702.
• Brehme, M., Hantschel, O. et al.: Charting the molecular network of the drug target Bcr-Abl. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(18):7414–9, doi:10.1073/pnas.0900653106.
• Dixit, E. et al.: Peroxisomes are signaling platforms for antiviral innate immunity. Cell. 2010; 141(4):668-81, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2010.04.018.
• Rix, U. et al.: A comprehensive target selectivity survey of the BCR-ABL kinase inhibitor INNO-406 by kinase profiling and chemical proteomics in chronic myeloid leukemia cells. Leukemia. 2010, 24: 44–50, doi:10.1038/leu.2009.228.
• Pichlmair, A. et al.: IFIT1 is an antiviral protein that recognizes 5'-triphosphate RNA. Nat Immunol. 2011, 12(7):624-30, doi:10.1038/ni.2048.
• Grebien, F. et al.: Targeting the SH2-kinase interface in Bcr-Abl inhibits leukemogenesis. Cell. 2011, 147(2):306-19, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2011.08.046.
• Winter, G.E. et al.: Systems-pharmacology dissection of a drug synergy in imatinib-resistant CML. Nat Chem Biol. 2012; 8(1):905-12, doi:10.1038/nchembio.1085.
• Varjosalo, M. et al.: Interlaboratory reproducibility of large-scale human protein-complex analysis by standardized AP-MS. Nat. Methods. 2013; 10(4): 307-14, doi:10.1038/nmeth.2400.
• Huber, K.V. et al.: Stereospecific targeting of MTH1 by (S)-crizotinib as anticancer strategy. Nature. 2014; 508(7495):222-7, doi:10.1038/nature13194.
• Winter, G.E. et al.: The solute carrier SLC35F2 enables YM155-mediated DNA damage toxicity. Nat Chem Biol. 2014; 10(09):768-73, doi:10.1038/nchembio.1590.
• Rebsamen, M. et al.: SLC38A9 is a component of the lysosomal amino acid sensing machinery that controls mTORC1. Nature. 2015; 519(7544):477-81, doi:10.1038/nature14107.
• Köberlin, M. et al.: A Conserved Circular Network of Coregulated Lipids Modulates Innate Immune Responses. In: Cell. 2015 Jul 2;162(1):170-83, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.05.051.
• César-Razquin A. et al.: A Call for Systematic Research on Solute Carriers. In: Cell. 2015 Jul 30;162(3):478-87. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.07.022.
• Vladimer, G.I. et al.: Global survey of the immunomodulatory potential of common drugs. In: Nat Chem Biol. 2017; 13(6):681-690. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.2360.

References

External links

• CeMM – Research Center of Molecular Medicine
• Personal Genome Project
• PersonalGenomes.org/Austria
• Genom Austria
• Haplogen