Francesco Fornai

Francesco Fornai, MD, Ph.D, is Full Professor and Chair of Human Anatomy at University of Pisa. He is Team Leader of the Unit of Neurobiology of Movement Disorders, IRCCS Neuromed.

He has expertise in neurodegenerative conditions as witnessed by over 300 peer-reviewed publications and over 14,000 citations (SCOPUS). His studies disclosed an alteration of the autophagy machinery as the mechanism leading to motor neuron disease and provided innovative methods to explore the molecular mechanisms of a variety of neurodegenerative disorders. In his research studies GAMT deficiency, a novel brain disorders was discovered and a cure was provided in human patients. He developed novel experimental models to reproduce and comprehend Parkinson’s Disease including a novel disease biomarker. In collaboration with the Nobel Prize Dr. Thomas Sudhof, he demonstrated the detrimental effects of the synaptic protein alpha synuclein in Parkinsonism, as well as the dynamic of formation of  Lewy Bodies. He serves in the Board of high cited journals and renowned international funding agencies.