Dr. Fabio Fumagalli
Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences
University of Milan, Italy
I am an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Milan (Italy). I have long been involved in trying to dissect the molecular mechanisms involved in the action of psychotropic drugs as well as in the characterization of sever animal models of psychiatric disorders. Also, I have been interested in the investigation of the changes set in motion by different paradigms of stress, either acute or chronic, as precipitating events that may unmask underlying psychopathologies. In the recent years, I focused my attention on the investigation of the molecular mechanisms of the action of psychostimulants, primarily cocaine. My interest is due to the fact that exposure to drugs of abuse during adolescence may increase the vulnerability to drug abuse at adulthood but also may lead to psychiatric disorders. Iââ
I have long been involved in trying to dissect the molecular mechanisms involved in the action of psychotropic drugs as well as in the characterization of sever animal models of psychiatric disorders, e.g. depression and schizophrenia. Also, I have been interested in the investigation of the changes set in motion by different paradigms of stress, either acute or chronic, as precipitating events that may unmask underlying psychopathologies. I focused my attention primarily on the role of neurotrophic factors, e.g. BDNF, and their modulation as potential markers of both pathology and treatment. Also, I have investigated the glutamate system, whose modulation may contribute to the manifestation and the therapy of psychiatric disorders. In the recent years, I focused my attention on the investigation of the molecular mechanisms of the action of psychostimulants, primarily cocaine. My interest is due to the fact that exposure to drugs of abuse during adolescence may increase the vulnerability to drug abuse at adulthood but also may lead to psychiatric disorders. I used a double approach in the lab by investigating the pure pharmacological properties of cocaine (i.e. by using experimenter administration of the psychostimulant) or the motivational properties of the drug (by using paradigms of cocaine selg-administration). Recently, I have started some collaborations with clinical groups who have the availability of blood from chronic cocaine users in order to find alterations in both animal models and humans in an attempt to find new proteins whose dysregulation may be crucial to cocaine addiction.
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