Biosketch
Mauro Corrado is a graduate in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy). He started his research career at the Department of Physiology and Metabolism at University of Geneva (CH) where he received his PhD working on the crosstalk between autophagy and mitochondrial dynamics in T cell death in the lab of Prof. Luca Scorrano. For his Post-Doctoral training, he joined the lab of Dr. Erika Pearce at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg (DE). Here, he defined how dynamic cardiolipin synthesis modulates metabolism and CD8 T cell function. In March 2021 he launched his “Immunometabolism and Inflammation” lab as independent group leader in CECAD Research Center in Cologne (DE)
Research profile
Cells constantly sense nutrient availability in their microenvironment, adapting function and survival to metabolic state. Driving this adaptation, mitochondria fine-tune their function in response to the dynamic metabolic requirements of the cell. This extraordinary mitochondrial plasticity is critical to T cells, which constantly surveil their environment, patrolling tissues and trafficking to and from lymphoid organs.
Main research questions:
1) How metabolism and immunity crosstalk?
2) How mitochondrial fitness regulates T cell function?
3) Can we harness metabolism to modulate T cell immunity?
Research in Corrado lab is focused on better understanding the metabolism of T cells during an immune response and how metabolism can be harnessed to modulate T cell function. To do so, we study the role of cardiolipin – the main phospholipid of the inner mitochondrial membrane –and more generally the role of mitochondrial metabolism in immunity, inflammation and aging.
Positions and training
03.2021 – present Group Leader at CECAD Research Center Cologne, Germany
06.2016 – 02.2021 Post-Doctoral Fellow Erika Pearce Lab MPI-IE Freiburg, Germany
12.2010 – 05.2015 PhD student in Luca Scorrano Lab University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Contributions
Dynamic synthesis and remodeling of the inner mitochondrial membrane lipid cardiolipin is responsible for the metabolic and functional plasticity of CD8+ T cells during an immune response
Metabolism influences the immune system starting from the early developmental stages of thymocytes