Name: Margherita Maffei

DTI position: Associate Telethon Scientist

Research field: Energy homeostasis regulation (crosstalk center/periphery) & Obesity and related complications. 

Hosting Institute: University Hospital of Pisa, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism

Projects funded: click here 

Contacts 
Bldg 8, Ospedale di Cisanello
via Paradisa, 2 - 56124 Pisa
Ph.: +39 050 995169
E-mail: mmaffei@dti.telethon.it, maffeim@immr.med.unipi.it

Profession profile

I graduated in Biological Sciences in 1989 at the University of Pisa. Part of my molecular Biology training was conducted in Cortese’s lab at EMBL (Heidelberg). I got my Ph.D degree at the University of Florence in 1993. I next joined the group headed by JM Friedman at the Rockefeller University (RU, NYC, USA), where I participated to the identification of the leptin gene. Leptin, secreted by white adipose tissue (WAT), signals the status of energy stores to the hypothalamus  and is considered the main player in the regulation of energy homeostasis. While at RU, I characterized leptin regulation, contributed to assess its bioactivity and performed the first mutation screening in human obese subjects. Upon my return to Italy, I started a collaboration with the dept. of Endocrinology and Metabolism of Pisa, where I established (2000) my DTI laboratory, focusing on the search for molecules that were differentially regulated in the WAT of obese versus normal subjects. Among other genes, my group identified the inflammatory marker haptoglobin, characterized its regulation and function in WAT,  thus contributing to elucidate the relationship between obesity and inflammation, presently thought to be a determinant for the onset of obesity associated complications. Leptin has always been a topic of interest in my lab and my group recently established that lifestyle is a critical determinant for leptin sensitivity. Studies regarding the mechanisms underlying this observation are in progress in the lab. 

Selected publications

Mainardi M, Scabia G, Vottari T, Santini F, Pinchera A, Maffei L, Pizzorusso T, Maffei M, “A sensitive period for environmental regulation of eating behavior and leptin sensitivity”.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010; 107: 16673-8.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20823242 

Maffei M, Funicello M, Vottari T, Gamucci O, Costa M, Lisi S, Viegi A, Ciampi O, Bardi G, Vitti P,  Pinchera A, Santini F, “The obesity and inflammatory marker haptoglobin attracts monocytes via interaction with chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 2 (CCR2)”. BMC Biology 2009; 7: 87.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20017911 

Funicello M, Novelli M, Ragni M, Vottari T, Cocuzza C, Soriano-Lopez J, Chiellini C, Boschi F, Marzola P, Masiello P, Saftig P, Santini F, St-Jacques R, Desmarais S, Morin N, Mancini J, Percival MD, Pinchera A,  Maffei M, “Cathepsin K Null Mice Show Reduced Adiposity during the Rapid Accumulation of Fat Stores”. PLoS ONE 2007; 2: e683.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17668061 

Chiellini C,  Santini F,  Marsili A, Berti P, Bertacca A, Pelosini C, Scartabelli G,  Pardini E, López-Soriano J, Centoni R, Ciccarone AM, Benzi L, Vitti P, Del Prato S,  Pinchera A, Maffei M, “Serum haptoglobin: a novel marker of adiposity in humans”. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2004; 89 (6): 2678-83.
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/89/6/2678 

Chiellini C, Bertacca A, Novelli SE, Görgün CZ, Ciccarone AM, Giordano A, Xu H, Soukas A, Costa M, Gandini D, Dimitri R, Bottone P, Cecchetti P, Pardini E, Perego L, Navalesi R, Folli F, Benzi L, Cinti S, Friedman JM, Hotamisligil GS, Maffei M, “Obesity modulates the expression of Haptoglobin in the White Adipose Tissue via TNFα”. J Cell Physiol 2002; 190: 251-258. LINK

Ravussin E, Pratley R, Maffei M, Wang H, Friedman JM, Bennet P, Bogardus C, “Relatively Low Plasma Leptin Concentrations precede Weight Gain in Pima Indians”. Nature Medicine 1997; 3: 238-240.
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v3/n2/abs/nm0297-238.html 

Maffei M, Stoffel M,  Barone M, Moon B,  Ravussin E,  Bogardus C,  Ludwig D,  Flier J,  Talley M, Auerbach S, Friedman JF, “Abscence of  Mutations in  the Human Ob  Gene  in Obese/Diabetic Subjects”. Diabetes 1996; 45 (5): 679-682.
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/45/5/679.abstract?sid=20f9ebd7-57aa-4474-8fe5-5fc86fb54097 

Maffei M, Halaas J, Ravussin E, Pratley RE, Kim S, Lallone R, Ranganathan S, Kern P, Friedman JM, “Leptin levels in Human and Rodent: Measurement of Plasma Leptin and ob RNA in Obese and Weight Reduced Subjects”. Nature Medicine 1995; 1: 1155-1161.
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v1/n11/pdf/nm1195-1155.pdf 

Halaas JL, Gajiwala KS,  Maffei M, Cohen SL, Chait BT,  Rabinowitz D, Lallone RL, Burley SK, Friedman JM Weight, “Reducing Effects of the Plasma Protein Encoded by the obese  Gene”. Science 1995; 269: 543-546.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/269/5223/543.full.pdf 

Zhang Y, Proenca R, Maffei M, Barone M, Leopold L, Friedman J, “Positional Cloning of the mouse obese  gene and its human homologue”. Nature 1994; 372: 425-432.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v372/n6505/abs/372425a0.html 

Group members

Silvia Bettocchi (Undergraduate Student), pilla.sma@gmail.com
Olimpia Gamucci (Ph.D Student), oly101121@yahoo.it
Simonetta Lisi (Post-doc Fellow), simo_lisi@hotmail.com
Matilde Marchi (Post-doc Fellow), m.marchi@sns.it
Caterina Pelosini (Ph.D Student), caterina0376@hotmail.com
Gaia Scabia (Post Graduate Fellow), gaia.scabia@gmail.com