Vincenzo A. Gennarino, PhD
Assistant Professor
Departments of Genetics & Development,
Columbia Stem Cell Initiative (CSCI)
Initiative for Columbia Ataxia and Tremor (ICAT)
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
vag2138@cumc.columbia.edu
Biography
I grew up in the beautiful city of Palermo, in southern Italy. I used to spend hours exploring the countryside and observing animal life. I was curious about everything then, and I still am.
During my doctoral studies at the TIGEM in Italy, in the lab of Sandro Banfi, my first publication was in the microRNA field. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small molecules that regulate the function of most human genes; the challenge has been to identify each miRNA’s set of target genes. Various bioinformatic methods had been tried, but each approach reveals a different set of targets for a given microRNA. I took a different tack: I hypothesized that the target genes of a given miRNA are likely to belong to the same biological pathway and therefore to be co-expressed. This basic idea led me to develop HOCTAR (Genome Research, 2009) and then the more refined CoMeTa (Genome Research, 2012), whose prediction accuracy reaches nearly 100%, as calculated by analysis of previously characterized human miRNAs. CoMeTa was the first tool to infer the biological pathways of each human miRNA based on the identification of its set of target genes. Both tools led to the discovery of the function of miR-128, which controls the master gene TFEB (Science, 2009).
For my postdoctoral work I wanted to bring my background in bioinformatics and RNA biology to bear on problems in neuroscience, so I joined the lab of Huda Zoghbi. I studied the regulation of the epigenetic factor MECP2 during neurodevelopment (Genes & Development, 2013), the post-translational modification of a neurodegenerative disease protein, Ataxin1 (Cell, 2015 and 2018), and alternative polyadenylation (eLife, 2015). My work garnered several fellowship and awards from the National Ataxia Foundation, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the Paul Marks Scholar Award, and recently from the NINDS/NIH (CMND).
Read the article featuring my journey in Generations: The Official publication of the
National Ataxia Foundation, National Ataxia Foundation Volume 46, Number 2
Summer 2018 page 21. Title “Researching Ataxia with Passion, Dr. Vincenzo
Alessandro Gennarino’s Journey".
To know more about me read the article featuring my career in Genes to Genomes: a blog from the Genetics Society of America, May 28. Title "Vincenzo Alessandro Gennarino on curiosity, hard work, and passion for helping others".
Honors & Awards
NIH T32 Trainee-Invited Speaker, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics (DBB), University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA (2023).
Invited Plenary Session Keynote Speaker at 148th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association, Philadelphia, PA, USA (2023).
Academic Keys Who’s Who in Medicine Higher Education (2022).
TIGER Grant Award from the Taub Institute, CUIMC (2022 & 2021).
Precision Medicine Mouse Models of Human Disease Pilot Awards (2021 & 2020).
CSCI Seed Fund Competition, CUIMC (2021).
Keynote Speaker at the 8th Neapolitan Brain Group Meeting, Naples, Italy, December 12 (2018).
Paul Marks Scholar Program Award. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. (2018).
“Hot chair” travel award (invited speaker) to the 7th Ataxia Investigators Meeting (AIM), April 1-5, Philadelphia, PA. (2018).
Young Investigator Research Grant, The National Ataxia Foundation. “Delineating the PUM1 functional network in mice and humans.” (2018).
NARSAD Young Investigator Award, The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. “PUMILIO1 mutations cause two new neurological disorders understanding its role in Mice and Humans.” (2018).
Young Investigator Research Grant, The National Ataxia Foundation. “PUMILIO1 deficiency understanding a new ataxia gene and its role in cerebellar dysfunction in mice
and humans.” (2017)
Best Speaker Prize, 6th Ataxia Investigators Meeting (AIM) at Caribe Royale, April 1, Orlando, Florida. (2016).
“Hot Chair” travel award to attend the 6th Ataxia Investigators Meeting (AIM) at Caribe Royale, March 29-April 1, Orlando, Florida. (2016).
First prize, “Best Paper” in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine Retreat, January 14-15, Galveston, TX (2016).
Winner, “Scientific Storytelling,” Pediatric Research & Fellows’ Symposium, March 26, Department of Pediatrics, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX. (2015).
National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor in Experimental Biology, Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR), Italy. (2012).
Invited “Young speaker” to Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology – The Biology of RNA Silencing Meeting, April 25-30, Victoria British Columbia, Canada. (2009).
One of 150 applicants selected to attend “Advanced Topics in Molecular Medicine,” July 15-18, at AREA Science Park (CBM-CEI) in Trieste, Italy. (2007).
One of 100 applicants selected to attend the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei Meeting, “The world of small non-coding RNAs,” June 11-12, Rome, Italy. (2007).
Early Researcher Career Development Award provided by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) at the University of Milan. (2006 & 2005).
Won Premier Cru for the wine “Selian Carignan.” (2004).