Perfil

Filippo Mancia is a Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University in New York.

He received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the Università di Pavia, in Pavia, Italy, and his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Cambridge, in Cambridge, England. He is a leading membrane protein biochemist, biophysicist and structural biologist. He uses integrated approaches to tackle fundamental biological questions at a molecular level, centered on biological membranes and their protein constituents. For example, he revealed how the essential nutrient vitamin A enters cells through an interplay between a specific receptor and the membrane, and how omega-3 fatty acids cross the blood-brain barrier. He also unraveled the molecular mechanism of several key steps of mycobacterial cell wall assembly, revealed how a transporter in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for resistance to certain antimalarial drugs and how this resistance is driven by geographic region-specific mutations. In summary, the studies in his group have provided unprecedented mechanistic insight into essential biological processes that occur at the cell membrane, making this complex molecular-level science more accessible to a wider audience. Results of his research have been published in leading journals including Nature, Science, Cell, and the New England Journal of Medicine. He has been invited as a visiting professor and to serve on and chair review panels by universities and funding panels, worldwide. Finally, he has been recognized by prizes and fellowship awards from various entities including the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Columbia University, the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Human Science Frontier Program Organization, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.