Chiara Magri
e-mail: magri AT med.unibs.it
website: www.amm.unibs.it
affiliation: Università di Brescia
research area(s): Genetics And Genomics, Neuroscience
Course:
Molecular Genetics, Biotechnologies and Experimental Medicine
University/Istitution: Università di Brescia
University/Istitution: Università di Brescia
EDUCATIONAL PROFILE
2009-present. Postgraduate student at the specialization school in medical genetics, University of Milan.
2000-2003 Ph.D. in Genetics and Biomolecular Sciences. defending a thesis entitled “Gli aplotipi del cromosoma Y: uno sguardo nel passato delle popolazioni umane attraverso la lente del presente”. Department of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pavia.
2000-2003 “Scuola Avanzata di Formazione Integrata” (SAFI), University of Pavia.
2001 Qualifying examination (Esame di Stato all'abilitazione della professione di Biologo)
2001(Jan6-Feb28) “Analysis of intraspecific molecular data: phylogeography, coalescence theory, and computer simulation models” organized by Prof. H.J. Bandelt, at the Fachbereich Mathematik Institute, University of Hamburg, Germany
1995-2000 "Laurea" in Biological Sciences (5 years-MS equivalent). University of Pavia. Grade: 110/110 cum laude.
1990-1995 Linguistic high school “G. Falcone” Bergamo. High school diploma. Grade: 56/60
SCIENTIFIC PROFILE
2005-present Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Brescia.
The main research fields are:
The study of genes involved in synaptic plasticity, with particular attention to genes coding for the AMPA glutamate receptor subunits and of their role in susceptibility to schizophrenia.
The analysis of the role of mitochondrial DNA variations in the predisposition to schizophrenia.
The definition of the contribution of Copy Number Variation (CNV) in the onset of pathological phenotypes.
The research of genes conferring susceptibility to psychiatric diseases by means of high resolution linkage analyses and whole genome association studies.
2004 Fellowship at the Dept. of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Brescia.
2000-2003 PhD Student at the Dept. of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pavia.
1998-2000 Undergraduate research activity in the Human Genetics laboratory directed by Prof. AS Santachiara-Benerecetti, Dep. of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pavia
2009-present. Postgraduate student at the specialization school in medical genetics, University of Milan.
2000-2003 Ph.D. in Genetics and Biomolecular Sciences. defending a thesis entitled “Gli aplotipi del cromosoma Y: uno sguardo nel passato delle popolazioni umane attraverso la lente del presente”. Department of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pavia.
2000-2003 “Scuola Avanzata di Formazione Integrata” (SAFI), University of Pavia.
2001 Qualifying examination (Esame di Stato all'abilitazione della professione di Biologo)
2001(Jan6-Feb28) “Analysis of intraspecific molecular data: phylogeography, coalescence theory, and computer simulation models” organized by Prof. H.J. Bandelt, at the Fachbereich Mathematik Institute, University of Hamburg, Germany
1995-2000 "Laurea" in Biological Sciences (5 years-MS equivalent). University of Pavia. Grade: 110/110 cum laude.
1990-1995 Linguistic high school “G. Falcone” Bergamo. High school diploma. Grade: 56/60
SCIENTIFIC PROFILE
2005-present Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Brescia.
The main research fields are:
The study of genes involved in synaptic plasticity, with particular attention to genes coding for the AMPA glutamate receptor subunits and of their role in susceptibility to schizophrenia.
The analysis of the role of mitochondrial DNA variations in the predisposition to schizophrenia.
The definition of the contribution of Copy Number Variation (CNV) in the onset of pathological phenotypes.
The research of genes conferring susceptibility to psychiatric diseases by means of high resolution linkage analyses and whole genome association studies.
2004 Fellowship at the Dept. of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Brescia.
2000-2003 PhD Student at the Dept. of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pavia.
1998-2000 Undergraduate research activity in the Human Genetics laboratory directed by Prof. AS Santachiara-Benerecetti, Dep. of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pavia
Over the last years, the research activity of Dr. Chiara Magri has been focused on identifying genes involved in the aetiopathogenesis of multi-factorial psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder.
The principal approach used was that of case-control association study on candidate genes. This kind of study tests the positive correlation between certain genetic markers inside candidate genes and the disease phenotype. This association, if not casual (5% of cases) or due to population stratification could indicate two things: first, the tested marker is the causative disease mutation, second, the tested marker is in linkage disequilibrium with the causative allele and, so, the disease mutation is in the vicinity of the SNP studied. This approach was used to analyze the AMPA glutamatergic receptor genes, to study genes involved in synapse plasticity and mitochondrial DNA (Magri et al., 2006; 2007; 2008; Iatropoulos et al., 2009).
The acquisition of the Affymetrix microarray platform allowed our unit to integrate traditional association studies with genome-wide association studies (GWASs) as well as to perform fine mapping linkage analyses.
In particular the analysis of a pool of schizophrenia Italian patients with SNP array chips allowed obtaining information on the their genomic SNP variability and detecting a large number of copy number variations (CNVs) not detectable with traditional cytogenetic methods. In particular, our research unit found some of the deleterious CNVs previously reported by others in schizophrenia patients and new, rare, large CNVs (Magri et al., 2010) containing new good schizophrenia candidate genes. Our research unit is now studying the functional role of these genes both in vivo and in vitro models.
Another research field of our research unit is the characterization with SNP array of medically relevant cryptic alterations (Fiorini et al., 2009;) and the identification and characterization of cryptic alterations in children with idiopathic mental retardation and apparently normal kariotype and their parents (Magri et al., 2011).
Finally, from a few years our research unit is also involved in developing bioinformatics software. Since SNP arrays produce a huge amount of data, which sometimes are difficult to handle with traditional statistical software, our research unit has created GenotypeColour™, a program which allows seeing and comparing genotype and CNV information from Affymetrix and Illumina arrays (Barlati et al., 2009). The principal features of GenotypeColour™ are: the simultaneous visualization of genotypes and copy number states of all SNPs on the Affymetrix and Illumina arrays for one or more subjects; genotype and copy number state comparison of many individuals for thousands of SNPs. The research unit is going to implement GenotypeColour for the visualization and analysis of next generation sequencing data.
The principal approach used was that of case-control association study on candidate genes. This kind of study tests the positive correlation between certain genetic markers inside candidate genes and the disease phenotype. This association, if not casual (5% of cases) or due to population stratification could indicate two things: first, the tested marker is the causative disease mutation, second, the tested marker is in linkage disequilibrium with the causative allele and, so, the disease mutation is in the vicinity of the SNP studied. This approach was used to analyze the AMPA glutamatergic receptor genes, to study genes involved in synapse plasticity and mitochondrial DNA (Magri et al., 2006; 2007; 2008; Iatropoulos et al., 2009).
The acquisition of the Affymetrix microarray platform allowed our unit to integrate traditional association studies with genome-wide association studies (GWASs) as well as to perform fine mapping linkage analyses.
In particular the analysis of a pool of schizophrenia Italian patients with SNP array chips allowed obtaining information on the their genomic SNP variability and detecting a large number of copy number variations (CNVs) not detectable with traditional cytogenetic methods. In particular, our research unit found some of the deleterious CNVs previously reported by others in schizophrenia patients and new, rare, large CNVs (Magri et al., 2010) containing new good schizophrenia candidate genes. Our research unit is now studying the functional role of these genes both in vivo and in vitro models.
Another research field of our research unit is the characterization with SNP array of medically relevant cryptic alterations (Fiorini et al., 2009;) and the identification and characterization of cryptic alterations in children with idiopathic mental retardation and apparently normal kariotype and their parents (Magri et al., 2011).
Finally, from a few years our research unit is also involved in developing bioinformatics software. Since SNP arrays produce a huge amount of data, which sometimes are difficult to handle with traditional statistical software, our research unit has created GenotypeColour™, a program which allows seeing and comparing genotype and CNV information from Affymetrix and Illumina arrays (Barlati et al., 2009). The principal features of GenotypeColour™ are: the simultaneous visualization of genotypes and copy number states of all SNPs on the Affymetrix and Illumina arrays for one or more subjects; genotype and copy number state comparison of many individuals for thousands of SNPs. The research unit is going to implement GenotypeColour for the visualization and analysis of next generation sequencing data.
Magri C, Piovani G, Pilotta A, Michele T, Buzi F, Barlati S. De novo deletion of chromosome 2q24.2 region in a mentally retarded boy with muscular hypotonia. Eur J Med Genet. 2011 May-Jun;54(3):361-4. Epub 2011 Jan 4.
Magri C, Sacchetti E, Traversa M, Valsecchi P, Gardella R, Bonvicini C, Minelli A, Gennarelli M, Barlati S. New copy number variations in schizophrenia. PLoS One. 2010 Oct 13;5(10):e13422.
Fiorini M, Piovani G, Schumacher RF, Magri C, Bertini V, Mazzolari E, Notarangelo L, Notarangelo LD, Barlati S. ITGB2 mutation combined with deleted ring 21 chromosome in a child with leukocyte adhesion deficiency. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Dec;124(6):1356-8.
Iatropoulos P, Gardella R, Valsecchi P, Magri C, Ratti C, Podavini D, Rossi G, Gennarelli M, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Association study and mutational screening of SYNGR1 as a candidate susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. Psychiatr Genet. 2009 Oct;19(5):237-43.
Barlati S, Chiesa S, Magri C. "GenotypeColour": colour visualisation of SNPs and CNVs. BMC Bioinformatics. 2009 Feb 4;10:49.
Magri C, Gardella R, Valsecchi P, Barlati SD, Guizzetti L, Imperadori L, Bonvicini C, Tura GB, Gennarelli M, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Study on GRIA2, GRIA3 and GRIA4 genes highlights a positive association between schizophrenia and GRIA3 in female patients. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2008 Sep 5;147B(6):745-53.
Magri C, Gardella R, Barlati SD, Valsecchi P, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Mitochondrial DNA haplogroups and age at onset of schizophrenia. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2007 Jun 5;144B(4):496-501.
Magri C, Gardella R, Barlati SD, Podavini D, Iatropoulos P, Bonomi S, Valsecchi P, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Glutamate AMPA receptor subunit 1 gene (GRIA1) and DSM-IV-TR schizophrenia: a pilot case-control association study in an Italian sample. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2006 Apr 5;141B(3):287-93.
Magri C, Sacchetti E, Traversa M, Valsecchi P, Gardella R, Bonvicini C, Minelli A, Gennarelli M, Barlati S. New copy number variations in schizophrenia. PLoS One. 2010 Oct 13;5(10):e13422.
Fiorini M, Piovani G, Schumacher RF, Magri C, Bertini V, Mazzolari E, Notarangelo L, Notarangelo LD, Barlati S. ITGB2 mutation combined with deleted ring 21 chromosome in a child with leukocyte adhesion deficiency. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Dec;124(6):1356-8.
Iatropoulos P, Gardella R, Valsecchi P, Magri C, Ratti C, Podavini D, Rossi G, Gennarelli M, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Association study and mutational screening of SYNGR1 as a candidate susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. Psychiatr Genet. 2009 Oct;19(5):237-43.
Barlati S, Chiesa S, Magri C. "GenotypeColour": colour visualisation of SNPs and CNVs. BMC Bioinformatics. 2009 Feb 4;10:49.
Magri C, Gardella R, Valsecchi P, Barlati SD, Guizzetti L, Imperadori L, Bonvicini C, Tura GB, Gennarelli M, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Study on GRIA2, GRIA3 and GRIA4 genes highlights a positive association between schizophrenia and GRIA3 in female patients. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2008 Sep 5;147B(6):745-53.
Magri C, Gardella R, Barlati SD, Valsecchi P, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Mitochondrial DNA haplogroups and age at onset of schizophrenia. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2007 Jun 5;144B(4):496-501.
Magri C, Gardella R, Barlati SD, Podavini D, Iatropoulos P, Bonomi S, Valsecchi P, Sacchetti E, Barlati S. Glutamate AMPA receptor subunit 1 gene (GRIA1) and DSM-IV-TR schizophrenia: a pilot case-control association study in an Italian sample. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2006 Apr 5;141B(3):287-93.
No projects are available to students for the current accademic year.