Gian Gaetano Tartaglia

I graduated from the University of Rome La Sapienza in the academic year 1999–2000 with a thesis on neural networks, supervised by Brunello Tirozzi (Department of Physics). Between 2001 and 2005, I carried out my doctoral studies at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) under the supervision of Amedeo Caflisch (Department of Biochemistry), focusing on computational modeling and on the folding and misfolding of proteins associated with neurodegenerative disorders. As a Clare Hall Research Fellow, I worked at the University of Cambridge (UK) in the Departments of Chemistry and Genetics under the supervision of Chris Dobson and Michele Vendruscolo. During the period 2005–2010, I participated in several computational and experimental studies on amyloid formation. Since 2011, I have been a Life Member of Clare Hall College, Cambridge.

From 2010 to 2020, I was a Principal Investigator at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, initially directed by Miguel Beato (until 2012) and subsequently by Luis Serrano (from 2012), within the research programme of Roderic Guigó. In 2013, I was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for my studies on the role of coding and non-coding transcripts in the regulation of amyloid-related genes. During this period, my group developed the catRAPID algorithm for the prediction of protein–RNA interactions. In 2014, I was tenured in Catalonia as an ICREA Professor of Life and Medical Sciences. In December 2018, I became Full Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biology at the University of Rome La Sapienza. In 2019, I joined the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). In 2020, I was awarded an ERC Synergy Grant to study the composition of phase-separated assemblies, in collaboration with Giancarlo Ruocco and Irene Bozzoni. 

In March 2020, I became Principal Investigator at IIT, where I lead the RNA Systems Biology Laboratory. Senior researchers in the laboratory currently include Elsa Zacco, Laura Broglia, Giulia Milordini, and Michele Monti. Postdoctoral researchers include Riccardo Delli Ponti, Andrea Vandelli, Martina Gilodi, Giorgio Bini, and Jonathan Fiorentino. PhD students include Guy Aoun, Camilla Canale, and Pranshu Sachdeva. Since September 2020, I have been a Member of Academia Europaea (MAE). In 2024, I became Coordinator of the RNA Flagship together with Francesco Nicassio, succeeding Stefano Gustincich, the founder of the initiative. In 2025, I was awarded an ERC Proof of Concept grant focused on aptamer development. I am currently listed among Stanford University’s “World’s Top 2% Scientists.” My most recent work focuses on the generation of artificial RNA molecules, in particular the computational design and experimental validation of aptamers for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.