Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Pathology
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Riccardo Zucchi was born in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (Lucca) on 31 December 1957. He is married with four children. He studied at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pisa in 1982. Afterwards, in 1985 he was awarded a PhD at the Scuola Sant’Anna and the postgraduate degree (specialization) in Cardiology. In 1984 he was an International Research Fellow at the Rayne Institute of St. Thomas Hospital in London.

He became research fellow at the Scuola Sant’Anna in 1989, then associate professor in 2000 and full professor in Biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, and later in the Department of Pathology of the University of Pisa.

Institutional roles

Professor Zucchi had several institutional roles at the University of Pisa: since 2004 he was a member of the scientific committee of the biological area; from 2005 to 2006 he was Deputy Head of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery; from 2006 to 2014 he was Director of the Degree Programme in Medicine and Surgery.
He was a member of the Academic Senate from 2012 and 2015, Head of the Department of Pathology from 2015 and 2019, and President of the School of Medicine from 2019 to 2022.

Scientific and teaching activities

Professor Zucchi has regularly taught Biochemistry in the degree programme in Medicine and Surgery, also teaching Chemistry and Biochemistry in other degree programmes of the medical area, in the degree programme in Biomedical Engineering, as well as in several postgraduate schools of the medical area.

The main research fields developed by Professor Zucchi deal with the following topics: energy and purine metabolism in the myocardium; cardiac purinergic receptors and the physiological and pathophysiological role of adenosine; calcium homeostasis and properties of the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium channel; biochemical characteristics and expression of trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs); identification of 3-iodothyronamine as a new chemical messenger; and development and characterization of thyroid hormone analogs.

Professor Zucchi is a member of several scientific societies. He was in charge of research projects funded by the Ministry of University, the University of Pisa and private bodies. He worked as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals and for the following national and international bodies: MIUR, NSF (National Science Foundation - USA), DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinshaft – Germany).
His scientific activities have resulted in more than 180 publications on peer-reviewed international scientific journals, along with several book chapters and two patents. The number of citations received is more than 5,000 with H-index of 35 (up to 2022).

Contacts

Segreteria del Rettore
Palazzo Alla Giornata, Lungarno Pacinotti 43 - 56100 Pisa
tel. +39 050 2212175 - fax +39 050 42446
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