Italian chemist
Prisca Liberali is an Italian chemist who is a senior group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research.[1] Her research takes a systems biology approach to understand the behaviour of multi-cellular systems. She was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal and EMBO Membership in 2022.
Early life and education
Liberali was born in Belgium, and grew up between Belgium and Luxembourg.[2] Her parents worked for the European Union. She attended the Sapienza University of Rome, where she studied physical organic chemistry.[2] She moved to the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, where she worked toward a doctorate in cell biology with Daniela Corda. Her doctorate looked at the mechanisms that regulate the function of the carboxy-terminal binding protein 3/brefeldin A-ribosylated substrate (CtBP3/BARS) in the membrane fission of mammal cells and was awarded by the Open University.[3] Her PhD used high-contrast screening and mapping of genetics interactions.[2]
Research and career
After her PhD, Liberali then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zurich.[citation needed]
In 2015, Liberali was made an assistant professor at the University of Basel. She was simultaneously appointed a group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, where she was made Senior Group Leader in 2021.[4]
Liberali makes use of a systems biology approach to understand tissue organisation.[5] She is interested in the collective properties of multi-cellular systems and how their properties arise from the behaviour of individual cells.[6] With this information, Liberali looks to understand cell reprogramming and disease.[7] Her early work considered intestinal organoids[8] and how they develop from stem cells.[9][10]
In June 2022, Liberali was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal by the European Molecular Biology Organization.[11] She was awarded EMBO Membership in 2022.[12]
Awards and honours
Selected publications
Her publications[1][5] include:
- Population context determines cell-to-cell variability in endocytosis and virus infection[23]
- Self-organization and symmetry breaking in intestinal organoid development[24]
- The closure of Pak1-dependent macropinosomes requires the phosphorylation of CtBP1/BARS[25]
Personal life
Liberali is married with two children.[2] Her husband is Dutch and her children can speak five languages.[2] She has said that her guiding advice for someone about to start their own laboratory is "Sometimes good ideas need time, and the courage to just try them.".[2]
References