Nicola Micali, PhD

Dr. Micali is associate research scientist in Rakic lab. He received his Master Degree in Biology from the State University of Lecce-Italy, and then his Ph.D in Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology from the State University of Milan-Italy. He worked at the Molecular Genetics unit led by Professor Francesco Blasi, at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute (Milan) on the role of TALE transcription factors (Pbx, Prep and Meis) in controlling cell survival and proliferation genes during mammalian development, using mouse and human “diseased” genetics models such as Down Syndrome patient derived cells, and cancer cells. Dr. Micali received a post-doctoral training in molecular neurodevelopmental biology at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD), Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore-USA. Here, he worked in Dr. Ronald McKay's lab on modeling corticogenesis in vitro and defining the cellular and transcriptional dynamics as human neural stem cells (NSCs) progress throughout neurogenesis. At LIBD, Dr. Micali studied the key molecular steps that control the generation of functional cortical neurons from NSCs derived from fetal mouse and human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), and the regulatory events that during corticogenesis control different developmental neural lineages. Major interest was dedicated to understand the role of fate determinant molecules, such as FGF2, BMPs and WNTs in specifying NSC states and neurogenesis. Dr. Micali has also been involved in projects to define and systematically analyze developmental variation in multiple hPSC lines. He collaborated with AstraZeneca Neuroscience in a genetic study to screen schizophrenia patient specific iPSC derived neurons. In this pipeline, he was directly involved in the development of new cellular assays. Dr. Micali is currently in Professor Pasko Rakic's lab, where he continues to study the regulatory mechanisms of radial glial cell (RGC) specification, in particular patterning and cortical area specification. Dr. Micali is working to identify new neuronal subtype precursors during the development of neocortex in rodents, non-human primates (NHP) and humans. His current focus is on the identification and characterization of the cellular and transcriptional dynamics underlying the species-specific differences in corticogenesis.