Davide Deodato was born in Catania in 1999. He got his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 2022 at the University of Catania with a thesis focused on the sensing of explosive compounds using fluorescent arrays, developed under the supervision of prof. Giuseppe Trusso Sfrazzetto. While studying for a master’s degree in Chemical Sciences (Curriculum of Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry), Davide attended a traineeship abroad at ICIQ (ES), in prof. Pablo Ballester’s group, improving his synthesis skills. He finally graduated in 2024 with a thesis titled “Design and Synthesis of Macrocyclic Fluorescent Cavitands for Sensing Applications” continuing his work with prof. Trusso Sfrazzetto. He is currently doing a PhD in Chemical Sciences at the University of Catania supervised by prof. Giuseppe Grasso and Dr. Danilo Milardi working in collaboration with CNR-IC (National Research Counsil – Crystallography Institute) on a project entitled “Optineurin chemical features and biological functions and its involvement in glaucoma and other neurodegenerative diseases” moving from the organic field to the study of proteins and conformational diseases.
[04/04/2025]
Thesis title: Optineurin chemical features and biological functions and its involvement in glaucoma and other neurodegenerative diseases
Keywords: Optineurin, Neurodegenerative diseases, Amyloidosis, Protein misfolding, SPR
Abstract: Optineurin is a cytosolic protein whose dyshomeostasis results in adverse health consequences like the onset of glaucoma. To the end of investigating its chemical features and how they are linked to its biomolecular properties, the work activity calls for the employment of techniques like SPR, DLS, CD and ThT assay applied to analyse the conformations and oligomerization states of both the full-length protein as well as its peptidic portions. Metals and other amyloid proteins will also be studied to check any potential influence on the phenomena of aggregation.
