Roberto Chiesa

Key facts

• His current affiliation, given on a February 2026 paper, is the Laboratory of Prion Neurobiology, Department of Neuroscience, Mario Negri IRCCS, Milan; a 2020 Mario Negri press release calls him head of that laboratory.
• He led the 2008 Neuron study that created Tg(CJD) mice carrying the D178N mutation with valine at codon 129, described by CORDIS as the first mouse model of a genetic prion disease showing the cognitive, motor and neurophysiological changes of the human illness, with EU NeuroPrion support.
• A 2012 Telethon funded Neuron study he led reported that mutant prion protein trapped inside neurons blocks delivery of a calcium channel to the cell surface in a genetic CJD mouse model.
• He was among the Mario Negri authors of the 2015 PLoS Pathogens paper on transgenic FFI mice, which became ill with sleep disruption without detectable infectious prions.
• He co-coordinated, with Michela Matteoli of CNR, a 2020 PLOS Pathogens study showing that mutant prion protein makes AMPA receptors let in excess calcium in CJD and GSS mouse models but not in FFI mice; he said AMPA blockers might be worth testing but that more work was needed.
• He was a co-author of the 2015 Prion paper describing the design of the Italian doxycycline prevention study in FFI carriers.
• The CJD Foundation funded him in 2016 (Patrick Yobs Memorial Research Grant) for a new anti-prion compound that lowers PrPC and blocks PrPSc replication, and in 2019 (Cheryl Molloy Memorial Research Grant) for nanoparticle delivery of a tetracationic porphyrin to the brain with testing in prion-infected mice; no amounts are published.
• His laboratory's 2023 iScience paper described a zinc tetracationic porphyrin that both lowers native PrP and blocks propagation of several prion strains, funded by Telethon GGP15225.
• He is the coordinator of ProFFIle, the JPND funded consortium (0.87 million euro, 3 years) on prodromal markers in FFI, and presented its results at the JPND final symposium in Brussels in November 2024.
• He is the Mario Negri co-author of the 2019 Neurology analysis led by Eric Minikel on age at onset in genetic prion disease and the design of preventive trials.
• He is last author of the February 2026 Acta Neuropathologica study, with Caughey, Orru, Altmeppen and Castilla among co-authors, showing that D178N transgenic mice did not make infectious prions and that RML prions passed through D178N PrP gained new strain properties unlike human FFI or CJD178.
• AFIFF lists him, as a Mario Negri laboratory head, on its six-member scientific committee.

Timeline

1. 2008CORDIS reports his Neuron paper on the first Tg(CJD) mouse model.
2. 2012Press report on his Telethon funded Neuron study of calcium channel trafficking in genetic CJD mice.
3. 2015Co-author of the Prion paper on the design of the FFI doxycycline prevention study.
4. 2015PLoS Pathogens paper on transgenic FFI mice published.
5. 2016CJD Foundation Patrick Yobs Memorial Research Grant for a PrPC lowering anti-prion compound.
6. 2019CJD Foundation Cheryl Molloy Memorial Research Grant for brain delivery of an anti-prion porphyrin.
7. 2019Neurology paper on age at onset and preventive trial design, as co-author.
8. 2020Mario Negri announces the AMPA receptor study he co-coordinated.
9. 2021Doxycycline FFI mouse study published online (issue October 2021).
10. 2021ProFFIle, coordinated by him, funded in the JPND 2021 call.
11. 2022Talk on experimental therapies at the Trento association update day.
12. 2023iScience porphyrin paper published online.
13. 2024Presents ProFFIle at the JPND final symposium, Brussels.
14. 2026Last author of the D178N RML prion strain paper in Acta Neuropathologica.