Carmelo Drago

Carmelo Drago graduated in chemistry at the University of Catania on 21st December 2001 (grade, 110/110). In April 2002 he started a PhD at the Chemistry Department of Sheffield University (U.K.) working on a project entitled “Combinatorial Approaches to Catalysis for Asymmetric Sulfide Oxidation” under the supervision of Prof. R. F. W. Jackson. This project was funded by the European Union and was part of an European Network project: COMBICAT “The Discovery of New Molecular Catalysts through Combinatorial Chemistry”. In December 2005, he moved to Milan where he undertook his experience at CISI scrl, originally a spin-off supported by the University of Milan on guidance of Prof. Carlo Scolastico, where he was involved on the “design, synthesis and biological screening of libraries of molecules obtained using high throughput techniques starting from original structural unities, for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications”. In March 2011, he moved to the Nanotechnologies Laboratory of the ISTM (CNR) in Milan, where he worked on a project concerning the Synthesis, design and characterization of SPIO nanoparticles conjugated to biomolecules for therapeutic and diagnostic applications under the supervision of Dr. Alessandro Ponti, with whom he currently continues to collaborate. Since November 2011, he is working as a permanent researcher (reg.-n° 14514) at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (CNR) of Catania, where he is involved in research projects in the area of sustainable chemistry (development of catalytic, sustainable, for the transformation of used vegetable oils into biofuels), medicinal chemistry (synthesis of molecules for therapeutic and diagnostic applications) and in the field of functionalized materials both for the development of biosensors (amperometric, optical, etc.) and drug delivery (functionalization of SPIO nanoparticles).

1. 1.    Zwitterion-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: Surface Chemistry and Intracellular Uptake by Hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) Cells; Sara  Mondini, Marianna  Leonzino, Carmelo  Drago, Anna  M.  Ferretti, Sandro  Usseglio, Daniela  Maggioni, Paolo  Tornese, Bice  Chini, Alessandro  Ponti, Langmuir, 2015, 31, 7381
   2.    Magnetic nanoparticles conjugated to chiral imidazolidinone as recoverable catalys; Sara Mondini, Alessandra Puglisi, Maurizio Benaglia, Daniela Ramella, Carmelo Drago, Anna M. Ferretti, and Alessandro Ponti, J Nanopart Res (2013) 15:2025
   3.    One-pot microwave assisted catalytic transformation of vegetable oil into glycerol-free Biodiesel; C. Drago, L. F. Liotta, V. La Parola, M. L. Testa and G. Nicolosi; Fuel, 2013, 113, 707
   4.    Bisphosphonate-functionalized cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp peptidomimetics; Carmelo Drago, Daniela Arosio, Cesare Casagrande, and Leonardo Manzoni; ARKIVOC 2013, 18
   5.    Dimeric Smac mimetics/IAP inhibitors as in vivo-active pro-apoptotic agents. Part II: Structural and biological characterization; Pierfausto Seneci, Laura Belvisi, Martino Bolognesi, Monica Civera, Federica Cossu, Michelandrea De Cesare, Domenico Delia, Carmelo Drago, Daniele Lecis, Leonardo Manzoni, Eloise Mastrangelo, Mario Milani, Elisabetta Moroni, Paola Perego, Donatella Potenza, Vincenzo Rizzo, Cinzia Scavullo, Federica Servida, Francesca Vasile and Carlo Scolastico; Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 2012, 20, 6709
   6.     Homo- and heterodimeric Smac mimetics/IAP inhibitors as in vivo-active pro-apoptotic agents. Part I: Synthesis; Pierfausto Seneci, Laura Belvisi, Aldo Bianchi, Martino Bolognesi, Carmelo Drago, Domenico Delia, Marilenia de Matteo, Luca Ferrante, Leonardo Manzoni, Paola Perego, Donatella Potenza, Vincenzo Rizzo, Federica Servida, Gabriele Timpano, Francesca Vasile and Carlo Scolastico; Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 2012, 20, 6687
   7.    Novel SMAC-mimetics synergistically stimulate melanoma cell death in combination with TRAIL and Bortezomib, D. Lecis, C. Drago, L. Manzoni, P. Seneci, C. Scolastico, E. Mastrangelo, M. Bolognesi, A. Anichini, H. Kashkar, H. Walczak and D. Delia, British Journal of Cancer, 2010, 102, 1707
   8.    Rational design, synthesis and characterization of potent, non-peptidic SMAC mimics/XIAP inhibitors as proapoptotic agent for cancer therapy, Pierfausto Seneci, Aldo Bianchi, Cristina Battaglia, Laura Belvisi, Martino Bolognesi, Andrea Caprini, Federica Cossu, Elena de Franco, Marilenia De Matteo, Domenico Delia, Carmelo Drago, Daniele Lecis, Leonardo Manzoni, Eloise Mastrangelo, Mario Milani, Ilaria Motto, Donatella Potenza, Vincenzo Rizzo, Federica Servida, Elisa Turlizzi, Maurizio Varrone, Francesca Vasile, and Carlo Scolastico, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 2009, 17, 5834
   9.    Enantioselective oxidation of a alkyl aryl sulfide: Synthesis of (S)-(-)-Methyl p-bromophenyl sulfoxide, C. Drago, E. Walker, L. Caggiano and R.F.W. Jackson, Organic Syntheses, 2009, 86, 121. 
   10.    mimetics. Structure, activity and recognition principles, Eloise Mastrangelo, Federica Cossu, Mario Milani, Graziella Sorrentino, Daniele Lecis, Domenico Delia, Leonardo Manzoni, Carmelo Drago, Pierfausto Seneci, Carlo Scolastico, Vincenzo Rizzo and Martino Bolognesi, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2008, 384, 673.
   11.    A Vanadium-catalysed Sulfur Oxidation/Kinetic Resolution Process for the Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure Alkyl Aryl Sulfoxides, Carmelo Drago, Lorenzo Caggiano, and Richard F.W. Jackson, Angewandte-Chemie International Edition, accepted as VIP, 2005, 44, 7221