Paolo Costantino - Biography#

After a doctoral degree in physical chemistry at Sapienza University of Rome, where he worked on the structure of complexes between DNA and antibiotics, in 1972 Paolo Costantino moved as a postdoc to the California Institute of Technology, USA, working on mitochondrial protein synthesis in mammalian cells in the laboratory of Giuseppe Attardi. Back in Italy in 1975, he was at Eniricerche in Monterotondo working on the synthesis and structural analysis of nucleohistone models. In 1979 he moved to Sapienza where he established and coordinated a research group working on the interaction between Agrobacterium and plant cells and subsequently on the genetics and molecular biology of several aspects of plant development. In addition, he pioneered plant biotechnology and nutrigenomics in Italy.

Paolo Costantino has been for decades the dominant force in support of plant molecular biology in Italy. He founded and was President between 1992 and 1998 of the National Plant Molecular Biology Consortium associating 17 Italian Universities; he founded and led between 2004 and 2009 the Italian Plant Genomics Network; he founded the Interdepartmental Laboratory of Model Systems at Sapienza. He has also been involved in admirable education and outreach activities including a school for plant developmental biology, organizing international symposia and hosting international scientists.

In the process, Dr. Costantino has burnished the reputation of Sapienza University, making it a destination for the plant molecular biology world.