AFFILIATION:
Magnetic Resonance Center and Department of Chemistry
University of Florence

ADDRESS:
Via L. Sacconi 6
50019 Sesto Fiorentino, (FI) -Italy

CONTACTS:
Tel: +39 055 4574192
e-mail: ciofi[at]cerm.unifi.it ; simone.ciofibaffoni[at]unifi.it

RESEARCH PROFILES:
ORCID_ID profile
Google scholar profile
University of Florence page
Educational

Simone Ciofi Baffoni has a cutting-edge expertise in NMR solution structure determination of proteins and protein complexes and in NMR observables used to define uniquely the position of a metal ion/cofactor in a protein structure. He is now actively involved in Instruct-ERIC, a pan-European research infrastructure in structural biology.
Research activities of Simone Ciofi Baffoni are focused on i) the cellular mechanisms controlling the intracellular concentration and distribution of copper ions and the related human diseases, ii) the oxidative protein folding mechanisms required for the import and assembly of mitochondrial intermembrane space proteins, and iii) the cellular mechanisms responsible of the Fe/S protein biogenesis in humans and the related human diseases. These studies involved the investigation of metal(cofactor)-protein interactions, protein-protein interactions, and structural characterization of protein-protein adducts, through the application of an integrated structural biology approach that exploits a vast number of spectroscopic, biophysical and biochemical techniques. The main results of his research activities on the above research lines have been published on Nature, Nat. Chem. Biol., Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., PNAS, JACS, and Elife (see list of publications).
Simone Ciofi Baffoni has co-authored 79 publications in peer-reviewed international journals with a fundamental contribution to the majority of them (alphabetical order is used in the majority of these publications), and is author of two book chapters describing metal-mediated interactions and iron-sulfur protein biogenesis. h-index of Simone Ciofi Baffoni is 38.

Full CV

RESEARCH FIELDS:

Structural biology, NMR spectroscopy, Copper trafficking and homeostasis, Iron-sulfur protein biogenesis, Mitochondrial protein import.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

1. L Banci, I Bertini, S Ciofi-Baffoni, T Kozyreva, K Zovo, P Palumaa, Affinity gradients drive copper to cellular destinations, Nature 465, 645-648 (2010).

2. LA Abriata, L Banci, I Bertini, S Ciofi-Baffoni, P Gkazonis, GA Spyroulias, AJ Vila, S Wang, Mechanism of CuA assembly, Nature Chemical Biology 4, 599-601 (2008).

3. D Brancaccio, A Gallo, M Piccioli, E Novellino, S Ciofi-Baffoni, L Banci, [4Fe-4S] cluster assembly in mitochondria and its impairment by copper, Journal of the American Chemical Society 139, 719-730 (2017).

4. L Banci, I Bertini, C Cefaro, S Ciofi-Baffoni, A Gallo, M Martinelli, DP Sideris, N Katrakili, K Tokatlidis, MIA40 is an oxidoreductase that catalyzes oxidative protein folding in mitochondria, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 198-206 (2009).

5. L Banci, I Bertini, V Calderone, C Cefaro, S Ciofi-Baffoni, A Gallo, E Kallergi, E Lionaki, C Pozidis, K Tokatlidis, Molecular recognition and substrate mimicry drive the electron-transfer process between MIA40 and ALR, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, 4811-4816 (2011).

6. L Banci, S Ciofi-Baffoni, K Gajda, R Muzzioli, R Peruzzini, J Winkelmann, N-terminal domains mediate [2Fe-2S] cluster transfer from glutaredoxin-3 to anamorsin, Nature Chemical Biology 11, 772-778 (2015).

7. MA Uzarska, V Nasta, BD Weiler, F Spantgar, S Ciofi-Baffoni, MR Saviello, L Gonnelli, U Mühlenhoff, L Banci, R Lill, Mitochondrial Bol1 and Bol3 function as assembly factors for specific iron-sulfur proteins, Elife 5, e16673 (2016).

8. X Nuttle, G Giannuzzi, MH Duyzend, JG Schraiber, I Narvaiza, PH Sudmant, O Penn, G Chiatante, M Malig, J Huddleston, C Benner, F Camponeschi, S Ciofi-Baffoni, HAF Stessman, MCN Marchetto, L Denman, L Harshman, C Baker, A Raja, K Penewit, N Janke, W Joyce Tang, M Ventura, L Banci, F Antonacci, JM Akey, CT Amemiya, FH Gage, A Reymond, EE Eichler, Emergence of a Homo sapiens-specific gene family and chromosome 16p11.2 CNV susceptibility, Nature 536, 205-209 (2016).

9. S Gourdoupis, V Nasta, V Calderone, S Ciofi-Baffoni, L Banci, IBA57 Recruits ISCA2 to Form a [2Fe-2S] Cluster-Mediated Complex, Journal of the American Chemical Society 140, 14401-14412 (2018).

10. L Banci, F Camponeschi, S Ciofi-Baffoni, R Muzzioli, Elucidating the molecular function of human BOLA2 in GRX3-dependent anamorsin maturation pathway, Journal of the American Chemical Society 137, 16133-16143 (2015).