Pietro De Camilli, MD
Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology and Professor of Neurobiology; Director, Yale Program in Cellular Neuroscience and Neurodegeneration and Repair; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Departments & Organizations
Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and RepairNIDA Neuroproteomics Center
Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS): Neuroscience | Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics and Development
Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program
Signal Transduction
Cell Biology: Neuronal cell biology | Cellular imaging
Neurobiology
Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center
Signal Transduction
Biography
A native of Italy, De Camilli studied at the Liceo Manzoni in Milan, earned his M.D. degree from the University of Milano in 1972 and obtained a postgraduate degree in medical endocrinology from the University of Pavia in Italy. He was a postdoctoral fellow (1978-79) with Paul Greengard in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale, and subsequently an assistant professor in the Yale Section of Cell Biology. Following a return of a few years to Milan, he moved back to Yale in the late 1980s, where he is now Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology and Neurobiology. He became an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1992. From 1997 to 2000 he served as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology and since 2005 he is Founding Director of the Yale Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair.The De Camilli’s lab is interested in the cell biology of neuronal synapses. His studies on synaptic vesicle dynamics have contributed to the general fields of exocytosis and, more recently, of endocytosis. His research has provided insight into mechanisms of membrane fission and has revealed ways through which membrane-associated proteins can generate, sense and stabilize lipid bilayer curvature. His discovery and characterization of the role of phosphoinositide metabolism in the control of endocytosis have broad implications in the fields of phospholipid signaling and of membrane traffic. His studies of synapses have also contributed to the elucidation of pathogenetic mechanisms of human diseases.
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Education
- M.D., University of Milan, Italy, 1972
Selected Publication
- Raimondi A, Ferguson SM, Lou X, Armbruster M, Paradise S, Giovedi S, Messa M, Kono N, Takasaki J, Cappello V, O'Toole E, Ryan TA and De Camilli P. 2011. Overlapping role of dynamin isoforms in synaptic vesicle endocytosis. Neuron. 70:1100-14.
Latest Honor and Recognition
- Elected Member (1987), EMBO
Articles
May/June 2009
How membranes get the bends
In cells, as in people, flexibility is important. To move, communicate, divide, or shuttle cargo about their interiors,...
May/June 2008
A scientific assault on brain diseases
The School of Medicine is home to outstanding research programs in cell biology and neurobiology, and members of its...
Jan/Feb 2006
Neuroscientists target disorders of the brain and spinal cord
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s, and injuries to the brain and spinal...
Jan/Feb 2006
Banner year for Yale as six on faculty join Institute of Medicine
Six Yale researchers, five with appointments at the School of Medicine and one from the School of Nursing, were among...
Medicine@Yale, the bimonthly newsletter of Yale School of Medicine (YSM), chronicles achievements
of YSM in basic and clinical research, medical education, and health care. Read More...
