Federico Iovino
Assistant professor
Associate Professor (Docent), Principal Investigator and Group Leader
In my laboratory, we investigate bacterial interactions with brain cells during neurological infections and meningitis.
About me
I have studied Human Biology and Biomedical Sciences, bachelor and master, at the University of Pavia in Italy. After my undergraduate studies, I moved to the University Medical Center of Groningen, The Netherlands, to perform my PhD in Medical Microbiology under the supervision of Prof. Jan Maarten van Dijl and Prof. Grietje Molema studying how Streptococcus pneumoniae interact with endothelial cells causing invasive pneumococcal disease, in particular meningitis. During my PhD in 2010, I have been visiting PhD student in the lab of Prof. Carlos Orihuela in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, USA. My PhD studies on pneumococcal meningitis pathogenesis have been published by international microbiology and infectious diseases journals such as Cellular Microbiology, Infection and Immunity and mBio.
After my PhD graduation in November 2013, I have immediately started my postdoc in December 2013 at the Karolinska Institutet in the laboratory of Prof. Birgitta Henriques-Normark where I continued my studies on pneumococcal meningitis. My postdoc studies have been published in leading international journals like Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Infectious Diseases and Trends in Microbiology.
I was awarded in November 2018 with the 4-year funding for Assistant Professor position by the Karolinska Institutet Board of Research. I have then established my own research team at the Department of MTC until December 2020. I am one of the 2020 awardee of Starting Grant in Medicine and Health from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), and in January 2021 I have started my own independent laboratory of Neuro-Infections and Neuroinflammation at the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet.
The Iovino Laboratory
Visit https://ki.se/en/neuro/iovino-laboratory
Research description
Neurological sequelae caused by meningitis: Interaction between pneumococci and neurons
Neurons are the main cell component of the brain, and mediate many functions controlled by the brain. Neurological sequelae caused by bacterial infection of the brain occur in 50% of meningitis survivors and are often related to neuronal damage. Our goal is to study how pneumococci can interact with neurons, invade and kill neuronal cells.
Publication by the Iovino Group:
PLOS Pathogens, 2021
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33760879/
Blockade of pneumococcal interaction with neurons, a novel therapeutic strategy to prevent neuronal damage post-bacterial meningitis
Following up our recent discovery that ß-actin mediates pneumococcal binding to neuronal plasma membrane, we are now investigating novel approaches to block the interaction of S. pneumoniae with neuronal ß-actin to protect neurons during bacterial meningitis pathogenesis.
Study the role of neurons as "helper cells" in brain´s immunity towards bacterial infections
Neurons, as well as other eukaryotic cells, use the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy to degrade mis-folded proteins. Brain endothelial cells were previously shown to use the UPS system to kill intracellular pneumococci (https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.00984-14). We want to investigate how neurons can use the UPS and autophagy to eliminate intracellular pneumococci and protect themselves from bacterial infections during meningitis pathogenesis.
Study the pneumolysin release pattern of Streptococcus pneumoniae and its implication in neuronal cell damage
Pneumolysin is a pore-forming toxin released by Streptococcus pneumoniae and is known to damage the eukaryotic cells that gets in contact with. Pneumolysin is a conserved protein among pneumococcal serotypes, however it is not known if several isoforms of pneumolysin are released by different strains of S. pneumoniae. We want to investigate if different meningitis clinical isolates express and release different pneumolysins, and if different isoforms of pneumolysin have different pore-forming activity which can lead to different degrees of cytotoxicity towards eukaryotic cells, neurons in particular.
The interplay between pneumococci and microglia, the primary immune cells of the brain
Study the biology of how microglia sense bacterial pathogens and initiate phagocytosis and/or neuroinflammatory process during meningitis pathogenesis; Study how pneumococci in the brain can survive and grow within microglia.
Publication by the Iovino Group:
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2019
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30967852/
Study the pattern of entry of the brain by blood-borne S. pneumoniae
Using our bacteremia-derived meningitis mouse model and whole brain microscopy imaging, we want to identify what are the brain regions/lobes that are mostly affected by pneumococcal invasion upon penetration of the blood-brain barrier.
The relationship between bacterial meningitis and dementia
Many molecular processes, like the injury of neuronal cells and the neuro-inflammation process, are common in both bacterial meningitis and neurodegenerative diseases. We want to investigate to what extent the neuronal damage caused by a bacterial infection of the brain can increase the risk for onset of dementia, such as Parkinson´s disease. This project is a collaboration with the research groups of Prof. Gilberto Fisone (Department of Neuroscience, KI), Prof. Per Svenningsson (Department of Clinical Neuroscience, KI), Dr. Joana Pereira (Department of Neurobiology, Care Science and Society, KI), and Prof. Fang Fang (Institute of Environmental Medicine, KI).
Publication by the Iovino Group:
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 2021
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34149363/
Fluid dynamics in the brain during pneumococcal meningitis
The glymphatic system is responsible for solute exchange and clearance is a critical process to maintain proper brain homeostasis and take away from the brain harmful material. During pneumococcal meningitis, the glymphatic system's functionality is impaired and the lack of proper solute exchange process leads to a progressive accumulation in the brain of bacteria and bacterial toxic components with consequent neuroinflammation and neuronal damage. In this project, we investigate how physiological processes of the brain are altered during cerebral invasive infectious diseases and how we can translate our results into new therapeutic strategies to preserve solute exchange systems to protect the brain during infections.
Publication by the Iovino Group:
mBio, 2022
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36036510/
Teaching portfolio
Course coordinator and Lecturer: Bacteriology Course, Biomedicine Bachelor’s Program, Karolinska Institutet.
Lecturer: “Infection and Immunology” and “Medical Microbiology” (Illness and Disease Course, Study Program of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet), “Pneumococcal Infections” (Cellular and Molecular Infection PhD course, Karolinska Institutet), “Bacteriology” (Frontiers in Biomedicine Course, Biomedicine Master’s Program, Karolinska Institutet).
Examining teacher: Frontiers in Biomedicine Course, Biomedicine Master’s Program, Karolinska Institutet.
Education
2013 PhD in Medical Microbiology (University of Groningen, The Netherlands).
2008 Master in Experimental and Applied Biology, Class of Human Biology and Biomedical Sciences (University of Pavia, Italy).
2006 Bachelor in Biological Sciences, Class of Human Biology and Biomedical Sciences (University of Pavia, Italy).
Academic honours, awards and prizes
Bibliometrics
Total number of publications on Pubmed: 27
Pubmed link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=iovino+federico&sort=date
Total number of last-author and corresponding-author publications: 7
Total number of first-author publications: 16
Total citations: 652 (Google Scholar); h-index: 13 (Google Scholar); Total Impact Points: 215.394
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=M-sgn1kAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1
Research Grants
2023: Weka Ekström Fund for Pediatric Research, Magnus Bergvall Foundation
2022: European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), Bjarne Ahlström Memorial Fund in Clinical Neurology, Åhlén Foundation, Magnus Bergvall Foundation
2021: Magnus Bergvall Foundation Stiftelsen för Gamla Tjänarinnor, MSD Sverige Meningitis Study Group, Tore Nilson Foundation.
2020: Vetenskapsrådet Four-year Starting Grant Medicine & Health, Bjarne Ahlström Memorial Fund Prize in Clinical Neurology, Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation Grants, Clas Groschinsky Memorial Fund, HKH Crown Princess Lovisa's Association for Child Care, Magnus Bergvall Foundation, Tore Nilson Foundation.
2019: StratNeuro Start-up grant, Petrus and Augusta Hedlund Foundation, Åke Wiberg Foundation, Clas Groschinsky Memorial Fund, Loo and Hans Osterman Foundation (Geriatrics), Fredrik and Ingrid Thuring Foundation.
2018: Four-year Faculty-funded Assistant Professor Position (Karolinska Instituet Committee for Research), Petrus and Augusta Hedlund Foundation, Jeansson Foundation, Åke Wiberg Foundation, HKH Crown Princess Lovisa's Association for Child Care, Stiftelsen Längmanska Culture Foundation (Kulturfonden), Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation (Pediatrics), Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation Grants, Fredrik and Ingrid Thuring Foundation.
2017: Jeansson Foundation, Åke Wiberg Foundation.
2016: Karolinska Institutet for Doctoral Education (KID) Grant (co-applicant).
Awards and Prizes
World Expert: In November 2021, recognized as “World Expert” in the top 0.1% of scholars in the category “Streptococcus pneumoniae”
https://news.ki.se/federico-iovino-recognisedworld-expert-by-expertscape
Bjarne Ahlström Memorial Fund Prize 2020 for research in Clinical Neurology
Reviewer activity
Scientific Journals: Nature Communications, mBio, PLOS Pathogens, Molecular Microbiology, Journal of Bacteriology, The International Journal of Medical Microbiology, Microbiology (Microbiology Society), Microbial Pathogenesis, Pathogens and Disease (FEMS), Virulence, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, Frontiers in Immunology, Frontiers in Pediatrics, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Biomedicines, Pathogens, Journal of Innate Immunity, Journal of Immunology, Current Research in Microbial Sciences, Infection and Drug Resistance, Cell Systems, Heliyon (Cell Press), Journal of Neuroinflammation, Brain Research, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Experimental and Molecular Pathology, eBioMedicine (The Lancet), Annals of Medicine, BMJ (British Medical Journal) Case Reports, BMC Journal of Biomedical Science, PLOS One.
Grant applications: UK Medical Research Council (MRC); French National Research Agency (ANR); Karolinska Institutet Research Foundation Grants (research area "Neuroscience"); Caixa Foundation (CaixaResearch Health Call); CIISA grant call (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal).
Editorial activity
- Member of Editorial Board (Review Editor) at Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (IF 6.073) , specialty section Bacteria and Host.
- Editor of the book on the subject Streptococcus pneumoniae, new volume for lab protocol based book series Methods in Molecular Biology, published by Springer.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-1-4939-9199-0
- Editor of the Section Clinical Infectious Diseases, part of the Encyclopedia of Infection and Immunity, published by Elsevier
https://www.elsevier.com/books/encyclopedia-of-infection-and-immunity/rezaei/978-0-12-818731-9
Special assignments
- PI representative, Advisory Board of Department of Neuroscience
- Safety representative, Department of Neuroscience
- Organizer of Department of Neuroscience Scientific Seminars
- Member of Biomedicum Work Environment Group