Prof. Dr. Paola Picotti
Biosketch
Paola Picotti is Full Professor at the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zurich. Her group develops mass spectrometry-based technologies for the analysis of proteomes and applies these tools to the study of neurodegenerative diseases. A major contribution of the Picotti group is the development of a structural proteomic approach to probe the structural changes of thousands of proteins simultaneously and in situ (LiP-MS). Using this approach, the group characterized the determinants of proteome thermostability, mapped protein-small molecule interactions on a large scale, demonstrated that global protein structural analyses provide a new type of molecular readout for pathophysiological changes. Further, using this approach the group demonstrated the concept of structural disease biomarkers, with application to Parkinson's disease. Other contributions of the Picotti group include the discovery of regulators of amyloidogenic proteins in neurodegenerative diseases. Prof. Picotti was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal, the Latsis Prize, the Cotter Award of the US HUPO, the HUPO Discovery in proteomics sciences award, the SGMS award, the EMBO Young Investigator Award, the Friedrich Miescher Award, the Juan- Pablo Albar award of the European Proteome Association, two ERC Grants (Starting and Consolidator), the Rössler prize and the Leopoldina and EMBO memberships.
Curriculum vitae
Professional and academic experience
2023 Full Professor of Molecular Systems Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich
2017 Associate Professor of Molecular Systems Biology, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich
2011 Assistant Professor of Protein Network Biology, Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zurich
2007 Post-doctoral fellow, Inst. of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich. Supervisor: Prof. Ruedi Aebersold
Education
2006 PhD in Biotechnology, University of Padua, Italy. Supervisor: Prof. Angelo Fontana
2001 Master degree summa cum laude in Medicinal Chemistry, University of Padua, Italy
Honours and Awards
2023 ASMBM-MCP Lectureship Award
2022 EMBO Member
2021 HUPO Discovery in proteomics award
2021 Winner of the Life Sciences Falling Walls competition
2021 Guest professorship at the University of Cologne
2020 Rössler Prize, ETH Zürich
2020 Election to the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina)
2019 EMBO Gold Medal
2019 ERC Consolidator Grant
2018 Juan Pablo Albar “Protein Pioneer” Award, European Proteome Organization
2018 Friedrich-Miescher Award
2016 Robert J. Cotter Award, American Human Proteome Organization
2016 SGMS Award for independent research in the field of MS
2016 EMBO Young Investigator Award
2014 ERC Starting Grant
2014 “Top 40 under 40” Power List, The Analytical Scientist
2012 ETH Latsis Prize
2011 Swiss National Foundation Research Professorship
2009 “Tomorrow’s PI”, Genome Technology
2007 Marie Curie Intraeuropean fellowship
Selected Publications
M. Pepelnjak, B. Velten, N. Näpflin, T. von Rosen, U.C. Palmiero, J.H. Ko, H.D. Maynard, P. Arosio, E. Weber-Ban, N. de Souza, W. Huber, P. Picotti. external page In situ analysis of osmolyte mechanisms of proteome thermal stabilization. (2024) Nat. Chem. Biol., Feb 29. 2024
M.T. Mackmull, L. Nagel, F. Sesterhenn, J. Muntel, J. Grossbach, P. Stalder, R. Bruderer, L. Reiter, W.D.J. van de Berg, N. de Souza, A. Beyer, P. Picotti. external page Global, in situ analysis of the structural proteome in individuals with Parkinson's disease to identify a new class of biomarker. (2022) Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 29(10):978-989.
L. Malinovska, V. Cappelletti, D. Kohler, I. Piazza, T.H. Tsai, M. Pepelnjak, P. Stalder, C. Dörig, F. Sesterhenn, F. Elsässer, Kralickova L., Beaton N., Reiter L., N. de Souza, O. Vitek, P. Picotti. external page Proteome-wide structural changes measured with limited proteolysis-mass spectrometry: an advanced protocol for high-throughput applications. (2023) Nat Protoc., 18(3):659-682.
V. Cappelletti, T. Hauser, I. Piazza, M. Pepelnjak, L. Malinovska, T. Fuhrer, Y. Li, C. Dörig, P. Boersema, L. Gillet, J. Grossbach, A. Dugourd, J. Saez-Rodriguez, A. Beyer, N. Zamboni, A. Caflisch, N. de Souza, P. Picotti. external page Dynamic 3D proteomes reveal protein functional alterations at high resolution in situ. (2021) Cell, 184 (2), 545-559. e22.
I. Piazza, N. Beaton, R. Bruderer, T. Knobloch, C. Barbisan, L. Chandat, A. Sudau, I. Siepe, O. Rinner, N. de Souza, P. Picotti, L. Reiter. external page A machine learning-based chemoproteomic approach to identify drug targets and binding sites in complex proteomes. (2020) Nat. Commun., 11 (1), 1-13.
M. Soste, K. Charmpi, F. Lampert, J.A. Gerez, M. van Oostrum, L. Malinovska, P.J. Boersema, N.C. Prymaczok, R. Riek, M. Peter, S. Vanni, A. Beyer, P. Picotti. external page Proteomics-Based Monitoring of Pathway Activity Reveals that Blocking Diacylglycerol Biosynthesis Rescues from Alpha-Synuclein Toxiciexternal page ty. Cell Syst. 2019 Sep 25;9(3):309-320.e8.
I. Piazza, K. Kochanowski, V. Cappelletti, T. Fuhrer, E. Noor, U. Sauer, P. Picotti. external page A Map of Protein-Metabolite Interactions Reveals Principles of Chemical Communication. (2018) Cell, 172 (1-2), 358-372. e23.
S. Schopper, A. Kahraman, P. Leuenberger, Y. Feng, I. Piazza, O. Müller, P.J. Boersema, P. Picotti. external page Measuring protein structural changes on a proteome-wide scale using limited proteolysis-coupled mass spectrometry. (2017) Nat. Protoc.., 12 (11), 2391-2410.
P. Leuenberger, S. Ganscha, A. Kahraman, V. Cappelletti, P.J. Boersema, C. von Mering, M. Claassen, P. Picotti. external page Cell-wide analysis of protein thermal unfolding reveals determinants of thermostability. (2017) Science, 355 (6327), eaai7825.
Y. Feng, G. De Franceschi, A. Kahraman, M. Soste, A. Melnik, P.J. Boersema, P.P. de Laureto, Y. Nikolaev, A.P. Oliveira, P. Picotti. external page Global analysis of protein structural changes in complex proteomes. (2014) Nat. Biotechnol., 32 (10), 1036-1044.
M. Soste, R. Hrabakova, S. Wanka, A. Melnik, P. Boersema, A. Maiolica, T. Wernas, M. Tognetti, C. von Mering, P. Picotti. external page A sentinel protein assay for simultaneously quantifying cellular processes. Nat Methods. 2014 Oct;11(10):1045-8.