Federica Briani
Federica Briani
e-mail:
affiliation: Università di Milano
research area(s): Genetics And Genomics, Molecular Biology
Course: Biomolecular Sciences
University/Istitution: Università di Milano
Education and Training
Born in Verona, on October 7, 1968

1992: Magna cum laude academic degree (Laurea) in Biology, Universita' degli Studi di Milano (UNIMI). Research thesis entitled: "In vitro analysis of bacteriophage P4 immunity: transcription termination induced by an antisense RNA"

1996: Doctorate in Genetics, UNIMI. Doctoral thesis entitled: "Transcription termination and maturation of an antisense RNA in bacteriophage P4 immunity system". The thesis was awarded with the Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology (SIMGBM) prize for the best italian Ph.D. thesis discussed in 1996 in the field of microbial genetics.

1996-1997: Telethon fellow at Telethon Institute for Genetics and Medicine, Milan, working on molecular genetics of neurodegenerative diseases.

1997-2002: UNIMI fellow at the Dept. of Biomolecular Science and Biotechnology, University of Milan, working on RNA degradation and post-transcriptional modification

1999: Two-months research fellow at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris (France), working on RNA polyadenylation in E. coli

2002-present: Research associate at the University of Milan, where has been teaching Molecular Microbiology since 2005.


Employment and Research Experience


Post-doctoral Fellowships
Telethon Fellow (1996- 1997).
Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Milan, (1997- 1999)
CNR short-term fellow for short-term stay at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris (1999)
Post-doctoral Fellow (Assegno di ricerca), University of Milan, (1999- 2002)
Present employment
Research associate at the University of Milan since 2002, where has been teaching Molecular Microbiology since 2005.
Her main research interest is the study of gene expression control at the post-transcriptional level in prokaryotes.
As a PhD student and post-doctoral fellow has been working on the E. coli temperate bacteriophage P4. In the lysogenic state, the expression of P4 lytic genes is prevented by a short RNA (CI RNA) that acts as an antisense RNA and induces premature transcription termination. This small RNA derives from maturation of longer transcripts. Her work contributed to clarify different aspects of the antisense RNA-dependent regulation mechanism and of the processing pathway leading to CI RNA.
Recent research interests focus on RNA maturation and turnover in E. coli. In particular, her activity has been mainly focused on an interesting enzyme, polynucleotide phosphorylase, involved in RNA degradation. Her work has contributed to elucidate relevant aspects about activity, physical and functional interaction with other proteins and physiological role of this protein in E. coli.
Currently, is also involved in a project aimed at the sRNA profiling of the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa.

Briani, F., Del Favero, M., Capizzuto, R., Consonni, C., Zangrossi, S., Greco, C., De Gioia, L., Tortora, P., and Dehò, G. (2007) Genetic Analysis of Polynucleotide Phosphorylase Structure and Functions. Biochimie 89:145-157
Marchi, P., Longhi, V., Zangrossi, S., Gaetani, E., Briani, F., and Dehò, G. (2007) Autogenous regulation of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase during cold acclimation by transcription termination and antitermination. Mol. Gen. Genomics 278:75-84
Del Favero, M., Mazzantni, E., Briani, F., Zangrossi, S., Tortora, P., and Dehò, G. (2008) Regulation of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase by ATP. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 27355-27359
Briani, F., Curti, S., Rossi, F., Carzaniga, T., Mauri P., and Dehò, G. (2008) Polynucleotide phosphorylase hinders mRNA degradation upon translational stress induced by ribosomal protein S1 in Escherichia coli. RNA 14:2417-29
Carzaniga, T., Briani, F., Zangrossi, S., Merlino, G., Marchi, P., and Dehò, G. (2009) Autogenous regulation of Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase expression revisited. J. Bact. 191: 1738-48
Pasini M.E., Intra J., Gomulski L.M., Calvenzani V., Petroni K., Briani F., and Perotti M.E. (2011) Identification and expression profiling of Ceratitis capitata genes coding for β-hexosaminidases. Gene. 473: 44-56
Delvillani, F., Papiani, G., Dehò, G., and Briani, F. (2011). S1 ribosomal protein and the interplay between translation and mRNA decay. Nucl. Acids Res. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkr417
No projects are available to students for the current accademic year.