Gian Paolo Rossini was born in Bologna (Italy) in 1952. Currently he is full professor of Biochemistry in the Division of Biosciences and Biotechnology at the Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy). He obtained his degree in Biological Scienses in 1976 at the Università di Bologna (Italy). His previous positions in Italy have been entirely at the Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, where he has held the position of Research Associate in the years 1977-1988, and of Associate Professor in the years 1988-2000. He has been teaching several biochemistry courses since 1988, including Biochemistry, and Advanced biochemistry in the School of Medicine; Biochemistry, Cellular biochemistry, and Biochemical methods in the curricula of Biotechnology, of Biological Sciences, and of Chemistry. He is presently teaching Biochemistry in the curricula of Biotechnology and of Chemistry. He is the coordinator of the PhD programme in Science and Technology for Food Quality and Safety at the Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy). He has research experiences in Countries other than Italy. He has been "Research associate" at The University of Chicago (U.S.A), The Ben May Laboratory for Cancer Research (now Ben May Institute), in the period Jan. 1979-Jan. 1981, where he investigated onto the mechanisms controlling the functioning of the androgen receptor in the rat ventral prostate. He has been "Guest scientist" at the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), Department of Medical Nutrition, where he has spent the period Jan.-Dec. 1985, characterizing the interaction of glucocorticoid receptors and RNA in vitro. He has also spent the period Sept. 1994-Aug. 1995 at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (France), Département de Biochimie, where he has characterized the general properties of a membrane receptor for secretory type I phospholipase A2 in uterine stromal cells. He has developed his own research activities since 1981. His major research interests have been focused onto the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction and the molecular bases of altered cell functioning in higher vertebrates. Within these areas, he has developed investigations onto the structure-activity relationships and the intracellular dynamics of steroid hormone receptors (androgen, glucocorticoid, estrogen and progesterone receptors), the molecular mechanisms involved in the control of cell proliferation and cell death, the cadherin-catenin system. His most recent research interests have been focused onto the characterization of molecular processes set in motion by algal toxins in vertebrate cells and the risks these toxins pose to consumers. His investigations have been devoted to several biotoxins, including okadaic acid,
maitotoxin, pectenotoxins, gambierol, yessotoxins, azaspiracids. His investigations have been developed and diversified in four major areas: the molecular bases of the effects triggered by biotoxins in biological systems, the development of functional and biochemical methods and tools to detect and quantify toxins in contaminated material, the characterization of mechanisms by which algal toxins interfere with signal transduction, the structure-function relationships of algal toxins and their molecular targets in biological systems. His research projects have been supported by grants from local, national and international Agencies, as well as Charities, and the results he obtained have led to over fifty publications in international peer-reviewed journals. He is inventor of a procedure to measure dinophysistoxins and yessotoxins in contaminated material (International Publication Number: WO 02/03060), whose patents are held by Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy). He is an active member of several national and international scientific Societies. He has been acting as referee for several international journals (Cell Death and Differentiation, European Journal of Biochemistry, FEBS Letters, Toxicology, Toxicon, Toxicological Sciences, International Journal of Cancer) and Research Agencies (the British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK; the International Science Foundation, US; The Royal Society of New Zealand; the National Research Foundation, South Africa). In 2001 he has been an invited expert in the “Working Group on Toxicology of DSP and AZP” of the EU Commission. In 2004 he has been invited as an expert to the “Joint FAO/IOC/WHO ad hoc Expert Consultation on Biotoxins in Molluskcan Bivalves”. He is an invited member of the AOAC Presidential Task Force on Marine and Freshwater Toxin, being cochair of the subgroup on yessotoxins. He is a member of the working group on marine biotoxins of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).