Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - Welcome to Our New Editors-in-Chief

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry is proud to announce that three new Editors-in-Chief have joined the journal's team and have really risen to the challenge of maintaining MCBI's quality of published articles and increasing its impact in the scientific community. Their hard work, dedication, leadership qualities, and profound scientific knowledge are at the core of the journal's continued success.

We would like to introduce you to, and cordially welcome

Prof. Roberto Bolli

University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Prof. Roberto Bolli graduated from the University of Perugia (Italy) in 1976. He completed a research Fellowship at the NHLBI (1978-80) and a clinical Fellowship in Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine (1981-83). In 1983, he joined the Faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, where he rose to the rank of Professor with tenure. In 1994, he became Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Louisville, a position that he held for 26 years. He is Director of the Institute of Molecular Cardiology, a Distinguished University Scholar, and the Jewish Hospital Distinguished Chair in Cardiology. Twice at two different institutions (Baylor and University of Louisville), Dr. Bolli developed a leading research program starting from zero.

Prof. Bolli has been PI in many NIH grants over 40 years: a P01 grant, a UM1 grant (CCTRN), a U24 grant (CAESAR), a DoD grant (CATO), and numerous R01 grants. He has published 500 papers, including 307 original articles. 

Prof. Bolli’s early research focused on the mechanisms responsible for myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and on the development of cardioprotective strategies. His established a fundamental role of reactive oxygen species in the pathogenesis of myocardial “stunning”, a concept that is now accepted as a proven hypothesis. Subsequently, he identified the signal transduction pathways and the cardioprotective genes responsible for the late phase of myocardial “preconditioning”, thereby elucidating the molecular basis of this adaptation of the heart to stress.  His discovery that the cardioprotection afforded by preconditioning is mediated by two proteins commonly thought to be detrimental (inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2) has impelled a reassessment of current paradigms regarding these enzymes and has paved the way for developing novel pharmacologic or genetic therapeutic strategies in patients with coronary artery disease. He is currently investigating the use of cell therapy to repair injured myocardium. He was the first to show that, contrary to commonly-accepted ideas, cardiac c-kit+ cells (CPCs) do not engraft in the heart and, therefore, work via paracrine actions – a concept that has changed our understanding of cell therapy. He has spearheaded the concepts that repeated doses of cells are superior to a single dose and that cells are effective when given intravenously. He led a Clinical Center of the NIH-funded network, CCTRN, where he was PI in two clinical trials: CONCERT-HF (Combination Of meseNchymal and c-kit+ Cardiac stem cells as Regenerative Therapy for Heart Failure) and SENECA (StEm cell iNjEction in CAncer survivors).

Dr. Luigi Ippolito

University of Florence, Italy

Dr. Luigi Ippolito is a senior PostDoc working at the Department of Biomedical Experimental and Clinical Sciences, University of Florence (Italy), in the Tumor Microenvironment Laboratory headed by Prof. Paola Chiarugi. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Medical Biotechnology and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Siena (Italy).

He has been working in the field of cancer metabolism since 2013, especially focusing on the role of the lactic acid in the aggressiveness of different tumor models. Dr. Ippolito is frequently selected by the international and national conferences (EMBO, EACR, SIC, SIB) for giving presentations. He has published more than 15 papers in peer-reviewed international high-impact journals, also setting up valuable collaborations in Italy and abroad. He was a co-organizer of the EMBO workshop "Lactate: Unconventional roles of a nutrient along tumor landscape" in 2021. He is one of the scientific organizers of 23nd FEBS Young Scientists' Forum in 2024. He has been taking the course "Protein Engineering and Recombinant Proteins" as teaching assistant at University of Florence.

Dr. Ippolito is also serving as associate editor or guest editor, and frequently reviews manuscripts for international journals including Frontiers in Oncology, Cancers, Oncogene.

Prof. Vladislav Volarevic

University of Kragujevac, Serbia

Prof. Volarevic obtained his medical degree in 2006 (University of Nis-Serbia) and doctoral degree in 2011 (University of Kragujevac-Serbia). He completed his post-doctoral research fellowship at the Immunological Institute Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai (New York, USA) in 2015 and at the Institute of Anatomy, University of Bern, Switzerland in 2016. He completed his clinical Fellowship in Immunology at Faculty of Medical Sciences Kragujevac-Serbia (2010-2013) and Clinical Genetics at Medical Faculty University of Belgrade-Serbia (2019-2022). Currently, he is Full professor of Medical genetics, Microbiology and Immunology and Chair of Center for harm reduction of biological and chemical hazards, Faculty of Medical Sciences University of Kragujevac, Serbia.

Prof. Volarevic possesses a unique combination of academic knowledge in Immunology and Stem Cell Science enabling him to investigate the immunosuppressive properties of mesenchymal stem cells and their secretome in modulation of inflammatory diseases. Currently, his research is focused on the delineation of signaling pathways that are mainly responsible for detrimental effects of biological and chemical hazards (including cigarette smoking, electronic nicotine delivery systems, grapheme quantum dots, nano-plastics, anti-cancer and  immunosuppressive agents) on viability, survival, migration, phenotype and function of immune cells, parenchymal cells and stem cells. He has a broad spectrum of publications in high impact journals across his field of research. He has published more than 100 papers which are cited more than 5000 times. His Hirsch factor is 38. Prof. Volarevic was ranked among 2% of best cited researchers in the world, according to the list provided by Stanford University in 2021 and 2022. Prof. Volarevic obtained several national and international research grants funded by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO) and Foundation For Smoke Free World (FSFW).