EDUCATION AND TRAINING
1980: MD, School of Medicine, University of Rome, La Sapienza, Italy, summa cum laude
1980-1983: Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Virology, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome Italy
1983-1984: Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Cancer Inst., NIH, Bethesda, MD and Frederick Cancer Research Facility, Frederick, MD
1985-1987: Research Associate, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y.
EMPLOYMENT AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
1988-1993: Staff Scientist, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
1993-2000: Associate Professor of Histology, School of Medicine, University of Siena.
1993-2002: Director, Growth Factors Unit, DIBIT, Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Milano
1994-2000: Director International PhD Programme, Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele, Milano
2000-date: Professor of Histology, School of Medicine, University of Siena.
1997-2002: Director, Medical Genetics Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese
2002-2019: Director, Molecular Medicine & Genetic Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese
2019-date Director, "Programme in Molecular diagnosis and pathogenetic mechanisms of rare genetic diseases", Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese.
2004-2010: Director, Center for Stem Cell Research, University of Siena
2009-2011: Director PhD Programme in Molecular Medicine, University of Siena
2010-2012: Chairman, Department of Neuroscience, University of Siena
2010-2016: Vice-Rector for Research, University of Siena
2018-date: Director, Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena
HONORS
26.11.2016: Doctor Honoris Causa, (D.H.C.), University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary, 2016
BIBLIOMETRIC DATA according to Scopus
Total Articles in international peer reviewed journals: 189
Sum of the Times Cited: 8303
H-index: 50
total Impact Factor February 2019: 970.368
Research Experience
Vincenzo Sorrentino is an internationally recognized scholar mostly known for his work in the field of molecular cell biology and genetics of skeletal muscle cells. In the last years, his research activity has mainly focused on three main topics.
1) Molecular basis of the assembly of the junctional protein complex at triads.
Following the discovery by his team of the third ryanodine receptors gene (RYR3), Prof. Sorrentino has been interested in the characterization and the assembly of proteins of the excitation-contraction coupling mechanism, like ryanodine receptors, triadin, junction, junctophilins and calsequestrin in skeletal muscle. These studies show how protein-protein interactions mediate the assembly and the stability of a large multiprotein complex around the RYR1 at triads. In recent studies, Prof. Sorrentino and his team identified the molecular determinants by which junctophilins mediate the formation and stability of triads in skeletal muscle.
2) Molecular basis of sarcoplasmic reticulum organization.
In 2003 his team provided the first evidence that an interaction between two proteins, sAnk1.5 and obscurin, stabilizes the sarcoplasmic reticulum around the myofibrils. Additional studies, mainly based on the characterization of knock-out mouse lines lacking either AnkB, sAnk1 or obscurin confirmed the role of muscle-specific ankyrins and obscurin in sarcoplasmic reticulum architecture and the stabilization of the M band and of dystrophin at costamers.
3) molecular genetics of human neuromuscular diseases.
Many of Prof. Sorrentino’s studies have been dedicated to genetic studies aimed to identify the pathogenetic role and the mechanisms altered by mutations in genes encoding proteins of the excitation-contraction coupling in human diseases like Malignant Hyperthermia and Central Core Diseases. In the recent years, Sorrentino provided the first evidence that mutations in the CASQ1 gene are found in patients with Vacuolar Aggregate Myopathy and in patients with Tubular Aggregate Myopathy. More recently, his group identified the first causative mutation in the obscurin (OBSCN) gene in a family with a form of distal myopathy.