FEDERICI Luca

EDUCATION AND TRAINING
May 22, 1997: Degree in Chemistry at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Thesis title: “Crystallographic study of saporin: a plant-derived N-glycosidase”. Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Brunori.

April 5, 2002: PhD in Biochemistry. Thesis title: “Structural studies on fungal polygalacturonases and their plant protein inhibitors: a model system in plant-pathogen recognition”. Supervisor: Prof. Demetrius Tsernoglou.

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

November 1, 1997 – October 31, 1998: Awarded a one-year post-graduate fellowship from the “Adriano Buzzati-Traverso” Foundation. Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Brunori. Department of Biochemical Sciences – University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

November 1, 1998 – December 2001: PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (14th cycle). Attended the doctoral program at the Department of Biochemical Sciences, funded by MIUR, conducting research in Prof. Tsernoglou’s laboratory.

January 1, 2002: Joined Prof. Ben Luisi’s laboratory at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge (UK), as a postdoctoral researcher initially funded by the Wellcome Trust.

May 6, 2002 – June 30, 2004: Awarded a two-year “Marie Curie” postdoctoral fellowship by the European Community for crystallographic studies of membrane transporters involved in antimicrobial drug resistance. Worked as a Research Associate in Prof. Ben Luisi’s lab, University of Cambridge (UK).

July 1, 2004: Awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Donegani Foundation – Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, for studies on protein–protein interactions using crystallographic methods at the Biocrystallography laboratory, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, in collaboration with Prof. Brunori.

July 20, 2004: Qualified as Associate Professor at the University of Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”.
December 30, 2004 – May 31, 2017: Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”.

April 18, 2017: Appointed Full Professor (BIO/10) by the Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”.

June 1, 2017 – present: Full Professor of Biochemistry, initially at the Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences and since October 2021 at the Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University of Chieti-Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”.

PERIODS SPENT IN FOREIGN LABORATORIES
January 1, 2002 – June 30, 2004: Research Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge (UK).

ACADEMIC ROLES
President of the Degree Course in Medicine and Surgery, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara (since February 7, 2024).

Previously:
Academic year 2017–2018 to 2024-2025: Coordinator of the PhD program in Biomolecular and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Chieti.

Since academic year 2013–2014: Member of the PhD board in Biomolecular and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Academic years 2005–2006 to 2012–2013: Member of the PhD board in Biomedical, Cytomorphological and Motor Sciences.

January 2020 – December 2022: Member of the University Disciplinary Board.

Member of the Department Council (2014–2017).
Additional departmental roles include research coordination, VQR evaluation responsibilities, and Open Science delegation.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

Coordinator of Integrated Courses:

Biochemistry (Medicine and Surgery)

Nutritional Biochemistry (Food and Health Sciences)

Chemistry and Introductory Biochemistry (Unicamillus University, Rome)

Teaching responsibilities include multiple undergraduate and graduate courses in Biochemistry, Nutrition, and related biomedical fields at the University of Chieti and Unicamillus University.
Also teaches in specialization schools (Sports Medicine, Clinical Pathology, Nutrition, etc.).
Supervisor and co-supervisor of numerous undergraduate theses and PhD students.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION
Member of organizing/scientific committees for several national and international conferences (1999–2024), including meetings of the Italian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and specialized congresses in structural biology.

MEMBERSHIP IN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
Member of the Italian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SIB) since 1999.
Elected member of the SIB Executive Board (2017–2020).

RESEARCH COORDINATION AND PARTICIPATION
Head of the Analytical Biochemistry Unit at CAST (University of Chieti) since 2019.
Coordinator of an independent research group since 2005.
Previous research experience at University of Cambridge and Sapienza University of Rome.

RESEARCH LINES
Research focuses on structure–function relationships in biologically relevant macromolecules using biochemical, biophysical, and computational approaches.
Along the years of activity main topics have included:

Nucleophosmin in acute myeloid leukemia
Glutathione transferases and drug resistance
Extracellular vesicles in cancer
Biomarkers for multiple sclerosis
Innate immunity mechanisms
Antimicrobial resistance mechanisms

COLLABORATIONS
Collaborations with multiple international and Italian institutions including universities in France, UK, USA, Spain, and leading Italian research centers.

EDITORIAL AND REVIEW ACTIVITY
Editor of the journal Molecules (since 2019).
Reviewer for numerous international journals (e.g., Nucleic Acids Research, PLOS ONE, FEBS Letters, Leukemia, etc.).
Reviewer for MIUR, ANVUR, and international cancer research foundations.

PATENTS
Industrial patent on antitumor compounds (2012–2014), co-developed with multiple Italian universities.

FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Principal Investigator or Unit Leader in several national and international projects (PRIN, AIRC, EU FP7, PNRR, regional funding), focusing on structural biology and disease mechanisms.

BIBLIOMETRIC INDICES (Scopus, as of May 11, 2026)
Publications: 107
Total citations: 4402
Average citations: 41.14
H-index: 37

NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC QUALIFICATION
Qualified as Full Professor in BIO/10 and also in related sectors BIO/11 and BIO/12.