Paola Costantini, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biology, University of Padova Born in Conegliano (TV), Italy, on May 5th, 1969 Education - July 14th, 1993: graduated with full marks (110/110 summa cum laude) in Biological Sciences, University of Padova, Italy - June 8th, 1998: PhD in “Molecular and Cellular Biology and Pathology” (legal duration of the program: four years), Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Italy Qualifications - May 1995: licensure to Biologist, University of Padova - March 2000: licensure to “Maître de conférences” in i) Cellular Biology and ii) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, French University - June 2014: licensure to Associate Professor of Biochemistry, MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca) Fellowships - April 1998 - March 1999: post-doc fellowship from ARC (Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer), Unit of “Génétiques Oncologique”, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France - April 1999 - September 2000: post-doc fellowship from FRM (Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale), Unit of “Génétiques Oncologique”, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France - January 2001 - March 2002: fellowship from NIH (National Institute of Health) for a program research on "Mitochondrial cyclophilin in cell death pathways", Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova Engagements - October 2000 - December 2000: CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France) engagement - June 2002 - November 2002: engagement as “collaboratore di ricerca” at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova - December 2002 - September 2015: Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Biology, University of Padova Present position - Since October 2015: Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Biology, University of Padova Academic activity Teacher of the courses i) Biochemistry (degree in Biotechnologies) and ii) Applied biochemistry (degree in Medical Biology), University of Padova, 128 hours for academic year Scientific activity PhD, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, research group headed by Prof. Paolo Bernardi: study and functional characterization of the permeability transition pore (PTP), a mitochondrial channel involved in apoptosis, focusing on its role in the cellular damages induced by oxidative stress conditions. Post doc, France, Unit of “Génétiques Oncologique”, Institut Gustave Roussy, research group headed by Prof. Guido Kroemer: study of the role of PTP and mitochondria in the pathway leading to apoptosis induced by oxidative stress conditions. Post doc, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, research group headed by Prof. Paolo Bernardi: study of the mechanisms of action of both pro- and anti-apoptotic pharmacological compounds and analysis of their effects on the mitochondrial pathophysiology. Present, Department of Biology: structural and functional characterization of proteins involved in FeS clusters assembly; mitochondrial (patho)physiology of diseases linked to dysfuntions of FeS proteins biosynthesis. This activity resulted in a number of high impact international scientific publications (number of full papers: 55, of which 9 as first author, 1 as co-first author, and 19 as last author and/or corresponding author), h index: 27 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER of Scientific Report

FeS clusters assembly process, in mammals and in unicellular microorganisms (see proposed thesis for more details).

General subjet of the proposed thesis: structural and functional analysis of proteins involved in the FeS clusters assembly process. Main experimental approaches used in our laboratory: 1) basic molecular biology techniques: cloning, PCR, site-directed mutagenesis, heterologous expression of recombinant proteins; 2) basic biochemical techniques: SDS-PAGE, Western Blot, purification of recombinant proteins by ionic exchange, gel filtraion and affinity chromatographies, UV-visible and fluorescence spectrophotometry; 3) advanced spectrophotometric techniques (in collaboration with the Department of Chemical Sciences): Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR); 4) cellular biology techniques: cell cultures, transient transfections, confocal and electronic microscopy. PROPOSED THESIS 1) Structural and functional analysis of frataxin, a small protein involved in Friedreich's Ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease associated to a loss of FeS clusters and to mitochondrial dysfunctions. 2) Structural and functional analysis of the FeS cluster assembly machinery of [FeFe]-hydrogenases, enzymes with potential biotechnological applications in the field of hydrogen gas production.