Francesco Bossa (1941–2019)
Francesco Bossa (1941–2019)
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DOI：
10.1038/s41419-019-1944-z
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发表时间：
2019-09-20
影响因子：
9
通讯作者：
Finazzi-Agro’ A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Finazzi-Agro’ A
最后一个5月29日，弗朗西斯科·博萨在经历了一场长期的、无效的疾病后，终于回到了他心爱的妻子多纳泰拉·巴拉（Donatella Barra，1941-2014）身边，她在四年前去世，在罗马生化界留下了一个无法填补的空白。事实上，博萨夫妇在近50年的时间里一直是研究蛋白质结构的参考点。Francesco和Donatella是在罗马大学著名的生物化学研究所（Istituto di Chimica Biologica）的学生时认识的，该研究所由Alessandro Rossi Fanelli建立和管理，他是第一个分离出人类肌红蛋白的人，也是血红蛋白领域最重要的研究者之一。罗西·法内利聚集了一群才华横溢的年轻科学家，他们反过来又吸引了更多对大分子功能感兴趣的人。其中，保罗·法塞拉正在研究磷酸吡哆醛的功能，他是医学新生弗朗西斯科的导师。另一位研究员是乌戈·切莱蒂的儿子保罗·切莱蒂，他是第一个将电击疗法引入神经精神病患者治疗的人。Paolo Cerletti对线粒体酶琥珀酸脱氢酶很感兴趣，为此，他召集了一大群年轻的研究人员，其中包括生物学学生Donatella 1。因此，弗朗西斯科和多纳泰拉从上个世纪60年代就开始并肩工作。当Cerletti离开罗马，首先在Camerino获得一个席位，然后在米兰削减了之前的大部分合作时，两人之间的互动变得更加紧密。然后，Donatella加入了Fasella的团队，开始了她终身从事的肽和蛋白质一级结构研究以及与Francesco 2的合作。由于Rossi Fanelli在寻找研究资金方面的能力和他开放的态度，Donatella Barra可能是意大利第一位使用Stein-Moore自动氨基酸分析仪的研究人员。这个机会让整个研究所的人都兴奋了起来，因为大多数研究小组的主要目标确实是研究各种蛋白质和酶。在主要的时间里，Francesco在维生素B6依赖性转氨酶3领域开始了他辉煌的职业生涯，他在接下来的40年里培养了这一学科，从而在该领域发挥了主导作用，发表了170多篇同行评议论文。这对夫妇一生都在一起工作，但保持着各自的专业知识，Francesco将他的兴趣从酶的结构功能的实验研究发展到生物信息学方法4。Donatella的研究领域更加多样化，因为她与国内外许多科学家合作研究各种蛋白质的一级结构。在过去的几年里，她一直在研究青蛙皮肤中抗菌肽的结构基础。他们都取得了重要的学术作用在大学的罗马La Sapienza。弗朗西斯科是生物化学的正教授和科学院院长。Donatella也成为生物化学的全职教授，但在医学系和新成立的生物化学系主任有权亚历山德罗罗西Fanelli。博萨-巴拉夫妇不仅在意大利，而且由于与著名科学家的广泛国际合作以及他们的论文的影响，他们将被铭记为在生物化学界更有影响力的科学家夫妇之一。你好弗朗西斯科和多纳泰拉！
The last May 29, Francesco Bossa after a long, invalidating illness, finally rejoined his beloved spouse, Donatella Barra (1941–2014), who passed away four years before, leaving an unfillable void in the roman biochemical community. As a matter of fact, the Bossas were for almost 50 years a point of reference for the investigation of protein structure. Francesco and Donatella met together as students in the well-renowned Istituto di Chimica Biologica at the University of Rome, established and run by Alessandro Rossi Fanelli, who first isolated human myoglobin and was one of the most important investigator in the field of haemoproteins. Rossi Fanelli gathered a flock of brilliant young scientists, who in turn attracted more people interested in the functioning of macromolecules. Among them Paolo Fasella was investigating the function of pyridoxal phosphate containing enzymes and was the mentor of the medical freshman Francesco. Another fellow was Paolo Cerletti, son of Ugo Cerletti, who first introduced electroshock in the treatment of neuropsychiatric patients. Paolo Cerletti was interested in the mitochondrial enzyme succinate dehydrogenase and, to this purpose, gathered a large group of young investigators among whom the Biology student Donatella 1. Therefore Francesco and Donatella were working side by side from the sixties of the past century. The interaction between the two became more tight when Cerletti left Rome to get a chair first in Camerino and then in Milan cutting down most of the previous collaborations. Then Donatella joined the Fasella’s group starting her lifelong job on peptides and proteins primary structure and the collaboration with Francesco 2. Thanks to the ability of Rossi Fanelli in finding research funds and his openminded attitude, Donatella Barra was perhaps the first researcher in Italy to work with a Stein–Moore automatic amino acid analyser. This opportunity gave a burst to everyone in the Istituto as the main goal of most research groups was indeed the study of various kinds of proteins and enzymes. In the main time, Francesco started his brilliant career in the field of Vitamin B6 dependent aminotransferases 3 a subject that he cultivated for the next 40 years thus gaining a leading role in the field, producing more than 170 peer-reviewed papers. The couple were working together their life long, but keeping well different the respective expertise, Francesco evolving his interest from the experimental study of structurefunctions of enzymes to the bioinformatics approach 4. Donatella had a more varied field of research since she was collaborating with many scientists at home and abroad on the primary structure of a wide array of proteins. In the last years, she was investigating the structural basis of the antimicrobial peptides from frogs skin 5. Both of them achieved important academic roles at the University of Rome La Sapienza. Francesco was full professor of Biochemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Sciences. Donatella also became full professor of Biochemistry but at the Medical Faculty and Director of the newly established Department of Biochemistry rightfully entitled to Alessandro Rossi Fanelli. They both were able to recruit a number of brilliant coworkers that are carrying on with profit in their fields of research.The Bossa–Barra will be remembered, and not only in Italy, due to the vast array of international collaborations with eminent scientist and to the impact of their papers, as one of the married couple of scientists more influential in the Biochemistry community. Ciao Francesco and Donatella!
影响因子：
2.1
作者：
Grieco, Paolo;Luca, Vincenzo;Mangoni, Maria Luisa
通讯作者：
Mangoni, Maria Luisa