Molecular Biology: Open Access

Francesco Saverio Tedesco2

Biography

 Francesco Saverio Tedesco graduated in Medicine and Surgery with honours in 2006 at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy). During and after medical school he was a visiting scientist at the Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) in the laboratory of Professor Shahragim Tajbakhsh, where he studied asymmetric cell division and stem cell self-renewal. He then continued his studies in the laboratory of Professor Giulio Cossu at San Raffaele Scientific Institute (Milan, Italy), where he obtained his PhD in 2010. During his PhD I started a collaboration that launched novel research lines in the aforementioned laboratory, resulting in a publication in a field not previously explored by his supervisor: human artificial chromosomes (HACs; Tedesco FS et al., Sci Transl Med 2011; commentary: Tremblay JP and Frederickson RM, Mol Ther 2011). After his PhD he coupled post-doctoral research in muscle regeneration with clinical practice and training between Italy (San Raffaele Hospital, Milan) and UK (UCL and UCL Hospitals). During this period I led a team of one research assistant and two MSc students to consolidate the research projects developed during his PhD. Additionally, I started to work on a another research line not previously explored by his supervisor: pluripotent stem cell-derived myogenesis (Tedesco FS et al., Sci Transl Med 2012; commentary: Vilquin JT, Mol Ther 2012). Moreover, he also became a co-investigator in a first-in-human clinical trial based upon transplantation of donor muscle stem cells for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (EudraCT no. 2001-000176-33). 

he joined UCL Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in January 2012 as a Senior Research Associate, funded by an MRC Translational Stem Cell Grant on which he was Co-Investigator. In August 2013 he was then appointed Principal Research Associate (starting April 2014) and he established his independent research group.

Research Interest

 His research is focused on the study of muscle regeneration, using murine models of muscular dystrophy and stem cell transplantation as a model system. He is also developing novel gene and cell therapy strategies for muscle disorders by means of human artificial chromosomes, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and biomaterials. He is interested in understanding how skeletal muscle sustains tissue regeneration and how we can improve this process for incurable diseases such as muscular dystrophies.

Our work was the first to show safe and efficacious pre-clinical gene replacement therapy with a human artificial chromosome into an animal model of a genetic disease (specifically, Duchenne muscular dystrophy). He were also amongst the first to report on the therapeutic potential of disease-specific (i.e. limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 2D) iPS cells that have been genetically corrected, transplanted back into an ad hoc generated mouse model and shown to provide therapeutic potential. He is working towards the clinical translation of these strategies into future therapeutic tools for muscle disorders.