Salvatore Fusco, associate in Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University, is the winner of the 2023 Stem Cells Young Investigator Award, awarded every year to a young scientist who publishes a study on stem cells considered to be of global importance.
The research thanks to which he obtained recognition and a prize of 10 thousand dollars, entitled ‘Neural Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Counteract Insulin Resistance-Induced Senescence of Neurogenic Niche’, identified a new epigenetic mechanism underlying stem cell damage neural effects due to cerebral insulin resistance.
“The result of this research consists in having demonstrated the therapeutic potential of nanovesicles produced by stem cells, grown in vitro, in experimental models of metabolic diseases – explains Claudio Grassi, Professor of Physiology at the Catholic University and Director of the Department of Neuroscience of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery – This minimally invasive approach, which is based on the administration of vesicles intranasally, allows molecules capable of improving brain functions and repairing the damage caused by neurological diseases to be conveyed into the brain, avoiding potential adverse effects of therapies based on the administration of cells”.
“Our idea – Salvatore Fusco, who graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 2003 and specialized in Clinical Pathology at the Catholic University, explains to Stem Cells – was that the alteration of the molecular cascade downstream of the insulin receptor could influence the balance between proliferation and senescence of neural stem cells and precursors”.
The award adds to other recognitions (including that of best physiology researcher in 2018 by the Italian Society of Physiology) and funding from the Ministry of University and Research and the Ministry of Health thanks to which he was able to carry out his independent research on the molecular mechanisms underlying the functional interactions between metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases.
“We are pleased to choose Professor Fusco for the 2023 Young Investigator award – said Jan Nolta, director of the journal Stem Cells – his work on determining the epigenetic mechanisms that link insulin signaling to neurogenesis is important because it can lead to a potential therapeutic intervention for cognitive dysfunction related to metabolic disorders”.
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