02/23/1993 Degree in pure Chemistry. Title of the Thesis: "Chemical and physicochemical characterization of mutants of the human growth hormone". Supervisor: Prof. A. Fontana, CRIBI, University of Padua.

07/06/1998 PhD in Biology and molecular and cellular pathology. Title of the Thesis: "Structural and functional studies of tetanus neurotoxin". Tutor: Prof. C. Montecucco, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua.

05/01/98-04/31/1999 Annual grant at the Biomembrane center – National Research Council (CNR) Padua. Project: production by recombinant DNA technology, and characterization of the function of the protein NAP of Helicobacter pylori.

05/01/1999-12/21/2001 Research fellowship at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Padua. Research project: synthesis and characterization of thrombin peptide inhibitors.

12/21/2001-today CNR researcher, Neuroscience Institute, Padua.

Study of the mechanism of action of bacterial and snake toxins.
• Recombinant production and study of the mechanism of action of B. anthracis toxins. Development of substrates and inhibitors for anthrax lethal factor.
• Mechanism of action and possible biotechnological applications of snake neuro and myotoxins. Production of these toxins and their mutants by recombinant DNA technology.
• Study of the protein-protein interaction between SNAP-25, target of botulinum neurotoxins A,C and E, and synaptosomal proteins.

Tonello F, Zornetta I. Bacillus anthracis factors for phagosomal escape.
Toxins (Basel). 2012 Jul;4(7):536-53.

Tonello F, Simonato M, Aita A, Pizzo P, Fernández J, Lomonte B, Gutiérrez JM,
Montecucco C. A Lys49-PLA2 myotoxin of Bothrops asper triggers a rapid death of
macrophages that involves autocrine purinergic receptor signaling. Cell Death
Dis. 2012 Jul 5;3:e343.

Paccani SR, Benagiano M, Savino MT, Finetti F, Tonello F, D'Elios MM, Baldari
CT. The adenylate cyclase toxin of Bacillus anthracis is a potent promoter of
T(H)17 cell development. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2011 Jun;127(6):1635-7.

Zornetta I, Brandi L, Janowiak B, Dal Molin F, Tonello F, Collier RJ,
Montecucco C. Imaging the cell entry of the anthrax oedema and lethal toxins with fluorescent protein chimeras. Cell Microbiol. 2010 Oct;12(10):1435-45.

Tonello F, Montecucco C. The anthrax lethal factor and its MAPK kinase-specific metalloprotease activity. Mol Aspects Med. 2009 Dec;30(6):431-8.

Baldari CT, Tonello F, Paccani SR, Montecucco C. Anthrax toxins: A paradigm of
bacterial immune suppression. Trends Immunol. 2006 Sep;27(9):434-40.

No projects are available to students for the current accademic year.