Marco Pignatelli

Education & Training

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• Residency: Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, 2014
• M.D.: University of Rome, 2008

Major Awards

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• NARSAD Young Investigator Award, 2019
• Timothy Bliss, Scholar Award in Synaptic plasticity and memory, Italian Society of Pharmacology, 2012

Areas of Clinical Interest

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Major Depression

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Research Interests

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My long-term research goal is guided by a molecular-to-in-vivo perspective and driven by two major areas of investigation: first, to obtain a mechanistic understanding of how synaptic transmission and plasticity work and contribute to information processing by neural circuits, and ultimately how synaptic transmission and plasticity occurring within specified neural circuits give rise to complex behaviors; second, to obtain a molecular-based understanding of how circuit, cellular and channel/synapto-pathies might be the subject for therapeutic intervention, with a focus on motivational behaviors and animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Towards this goal, I use synergistic state-of-the-art methodologies such as in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology, intersectional genetic approaches together with cell biology and molecular pharmacology.

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Recent Publications

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• Ketamine rescues anhedonia by cell-type- and input-specific adaptations in the nucleus accumbens

  Lucantonio, F., Roeglin, J., Li, S., Lu, J., Shi, A., Czerpaniak, K., Fiocchi, F. R., Bontempi, L., Shields, B. C., Zarate, C. A., Tadross, M. R. & Pignatelli, M., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Neuron.

• Expression of the excitatory opsin ChRERα can be traced longitudinally in rat and nonhuman primate brains with PET imaging

  Bonaventura, J., Boehm, M. A., Jedema, H. P., Solis, O., Pignatelli, M., Song, X., Lu, H., Richie, C. T., Zhang, S., Gomez, J. L., Lam, S., Morales, M., Gharbawie, O. A., Pomper, M. G., Stein, E. A., Bradberry, C. W. & Michaelides, M., Jul 26 2023, In: Science translational medicine. 15, 706, eadd1014.

• Synaptic Zn²⁺ potentiates the effects of cocaine on striatal dopamine neurotransmission and behavior

  Gomez, J. L., Bonaventura, J., Keighron, J., Wright, K. M., Marable, D. L., Rodriguez, L. A., Lam, S., Carlton, M. L., Ellis, R. J., Jordan, C. J., Bi, G. H., Solis, O., Pignatelli, M., Bannon, M. J., Xi, Z. X., Tanda, G. & Michaelides, M., Dec 2021, In: Translational psychiatry. 11, 1, 570.

• Cooperative synaptic and intrinsic plasticity in a disynaptic limbic circuit drive stress-induced anhedonia and passive coping in mice

  Pignatelli, M., Tejeda, H. A., Barker, D. J., Bontempi, L., Wu, J., Lopez, A., Palma Ribeiro, S., Lucantonio, F., Parise, E. M., Torres-Berrio, A., Alvarez-Bagnarol, Y., Marino, R. A. M., Cai, Z. L., Xue, M., Morales, M., Tamminga, C. A., Nestler, E. J. & Bonci, A., Jun 2021, In: Molecular Psychiatry. 26, 6, p. 1860-1879 20 p.

• Microglial activation elicits a negative affective state through prostaglandin-mediated modulation of striatal neurons

  Klawonn, A. M., Fritz, M., Castany, S., Pignatelli, M., Canal, C., Similä, F., Tejeda, H. A., Levinsson, J., Jaarola, M., Jakobsson, J., Hidalgo, J., Heilig, M., Bonci, A. & Engblom, D., Feb 9 2021, In: Immunity. 54, 2, p. 225-234.e6

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Funded Research Projects

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