A/ProfAlessandro Castorina

A/Prof. Alessandro Castorina is a neuroscientist and molecular neurobiologist who, after relocating to Australia in 2016, established the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience (LCMN) at UTS, School of Life Sciences (SoLS), Faculty of Science. He his also the Deputy Discipline Leader in SoLS.

He completed his PhD in Neuropharmacology at the University of Catania (Italy) in February 2009, defending his thesis addressing the role of the dopamine D3 receptor in CNS disorders. Immediately after, he received a post-doctoral fellowship to study the role of the neuropeptides pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in models of neurodegenerative diseases. In 2011, Dr Castorina was appointed as Lecturer at the University of Catania, where he established his research group on neuropeptide's research.

In 2015, Dr Castorina was awarded an International Research Collaboration Award (IRCA) from the University of Sydney to study the role of PACAP/VIP in an experimental mouse model of Aicardi-Goutières Syndrome - a rare immunological disorder characterised by brain inflammation and demyelination. Thereafter, in 2015, he joined the Discipline of Anatomy & Histology (University of Sydney) as a Senior Research Fellow to investigate how brain PACAP/VIP regulate social behavior in preclinical models of chronic nerve pain.

In 2016, Dr Castorina was appointed as Senior Lecturer at UTS, where he established the LCMN to focus on the role of PACAP/VIP in neuroinflammatory diseases of the CNS, including Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS) and others. In view of his achievements, in 2019 he was awarded the Translational Science Award at the international PACAP/VIP symposia held at UCLA (US). In 2020, he became the Director of the Surgical and Anatomical Science Facility (2020-2021). In 2021, he was promoted to Associate Professor.

Whilst in Italy, Dr Castorina has attracted research funding from several sources, including PRIN, FIRB and PON. During his relative short period in Australia, he has attracted funding from numerous philanthropic bodies, including (the Macintosh Memorial Fund [2016-18], MS Research Australia, Rebecca L. Cooper Foundation and Brain Australia], in addition to receiving internal competitive funding schemes (2 Start-up funds (2017 and 2018), a Capacity building grant 2019 and a Seed funding grant 2020).

As of 2023, A/Prof. Castorina has published 69 papers and 1 book chapter, attracting more than 1800 citations. His H-index is 25 (Scopus).


Awards
In 2015, Dr Castorina received the IRCA for a collaborative project entitled "Regulation of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) expression and release in astrocytes from GFAP-Interleukin-6 and GFAP-Interferon-alpha transgenic mice", a model of Aicardi-Goutières Syndrome, with Prof. Iain Campbell.
In 2016, he received the Best Paper Award from the International Journal of Molecular Sciences for the paper "Ameliorative Effects of PACAP against Cartilage Degeneration. Morphological, Immunohistochemical and Biochemical Evidence from in Vivo and in Vitro Models of Rat Osteoarthritis".
In 2019, he received the Translational Science Award from UCLA/CTSI for his excellent contributions to neuropeptides research at the International PACAP/VIP Symposia.

Memberships
- SPHERE (The Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research & Enterprise (2022 -)
- Brain Foundation (2021 -)
- Australian Society for Medical Research (Member 2018, Deputy Convenor 2019, Co-convenor 2020)
- Australasian Society for Neuroscience (ANS) (2017 -)
- Society for Neuroscience (2008 -)
- Italian Society of Anatomy and Histology (2006 - 2016)

Editorial Boards
- Cells (Editorial Board Member and Guest Editor, Section: Molecular Neurobiology; 2019 -)
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Editorial Board Member & Guest Editor, Section: Molecular Neurobiology; 2020 -)
- Journal of Molecular Neuroscience (Section Editor: Neuropeptides; 2019 -)
- Sci (Scientific Advisory Board; 2020 -)
- Anatomia (EBM, Section: Neuroanatomy; 2022 -)
- Neural Regeneration Research (2014 -)

Selected Media

https://www.msaustralia.org.au/news/revealing-how-a-natural-compound-may-affect-nerve-cell-protection-in-ms/

https://kissgoodbyetoms.org/won-lab-battle/

https://www.themay50k.org/fundraisers/alessandrocastorina/the-may-50k-2023

https://2ser.com/battle-of-the-labs-ms-researchers-showcase-their-work-in-unique-campaign/