Technician
Marine Animal Conservation and Public Engagement Department

Tel. +39 081 5833271
Fax: +39 081 7641355
e-mail mirko.mutalipassi(at)szn.it
Contatto Skype: mirko.mutalipassi

Curriculum Vitae

Research interests

Marine environments represent a countless resource for new bioactive molecules offering a huge opportunity to discover new drugs to face major disease such as cancer or malaria. On the same time, this chemical biodiversity is grafted into a wider ecological framework, where organisms interact on the basis of molecules with informative roles, the infochemicals.
Our effort is to study these bioactive molecules on both ecological and biotechnological point of view. In fact, if on one side marine organisms are screened to find antibacterial, immunomodulator, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antimicrobial, neuroprotective, analgesic, and antimalarial molecules, on the other side they produce a large variety of secondary metabolites that can represent a hide language in plant-animal and prey-predator interaction in both pelagic and benthic environments. Among this biodiversity of species, our investigations are focused on Diatoms and Cyanobacteria, globally recognised as some of the most interesting marine source of bioactive molecules. These investigations require a multidisciplinary approach, ranging from taxonomy to biochemistry, through cell and animal bioassay and bioinformatic. On the same time, we are building a Cyanobacteria bank, where a large variety of marine species are going to be identified, isolated and cultured in axenic condition for research purposes.

Selected Publications

Mutalipassi, M., Mazzella, V., Schott, M., Fink, P., Glaviano, F., Porzio, L., ... & Zupo, V. (2022). Ocean Acidification Affects Volatile Infochemicals Production and Perception in Fauna and Flora Associated With Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile. Frontiers in Marine Science, 101.

Mutalipassi, M., Mazzella, V., Glaviano, F., & Zupo, V. (2022). Constitutive and activated toxigenic activity of Halomicronema metazoicum (Cyanoprokaryota, Cyanophyta). Marine Ecology, e12697.

Mutalipassi, M., Esposito, R., Ruocco, N., Viel, T., Costantini, M., & Zupo, V. (2021). Bioactive Compounds of Nutraceutical Value from Fishery and Aquaculture Discards. Foods, 10(7), 1495.

Mutalipassi, M., Riccio, G., Mazzella, V., Galasso, C., Somma, E., Chiarore, A., ... & Zupo, V. (2021). Symbioses of cyanobacteria in marine environments: Ecological insights and biotechnological perspectives. Marine Drugs, 19(4), 227.

Levy, T., Zupo, V., Mutalipassi, M., Somma, E., Ruocco, N., Costantini, M., ... & Aflalo, E. D. (2021). Protandric Transcriptomes to Uncover Parts of the Crustacean Sex-Differentiation Puzzle. Frontiers in Marine Science, 1487.

Mutalipassi, M., Fink, P., Maibam, C., Porzio, L., Buia, M. C., Gambi, M. C., ... & Zupo, V. (2020). Ocean acidification alters the responses of invertebrates to wound-activated infochemicals produced by epiphytes of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 530, 151435.

Riccio, G., Ruocco, N., Mutalipassi, M., Costantini, M., Zupo, V., Coppola, D., ... & Lauritano, C. (2020). Ten-year research update review: antiviral activities from marine organisms. Biomolecules, 10(7), 1007.

Zupo, V., Scibelli, S., Mutalipassi, M., Ruocco, N., Esposito, F., Macina, A., ... & Costantini, M. (2020). Coupling feeding activity, growth rates and molecular data shows dietetic needs of Ciona robusta (Ascidiacea, Phlebobranchia) in automatic culture plants. Scientific reports, 10(1), 1-16.

Chiarore, A., Musco, L., Bertocci, I., Gallo, A., Cannavacciuolo, A., Mutalipassi, M., ... & Munari, M. (2020). Sea urchin chronicles. The effect of oxygen super-saturation and marine polluted sediments from Bagnoli-Coroglio Bay on different life stages of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. Marine Environmental Research, 159, 104967.

Mutalipassi M, Mazzella V, Zupo V. Ocean acidification influences plant-animal interactions: The effect of Cocconeis scutellum parva on the sex reversal of Hippolyte inermis. Martins GM, editor. PLoS One. Public Library of Science; 2019;14: e0218238. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0218238

Sahm A, Almaida-Pagán P, Bens M, Mutalipassi M, Lucas-Sánchez A, De Costa Ruiz J, et al. Analysis of the coding sequences of clownfish reveals molecular convergence in the evolution of lifespan. BMC Evol Biol. BioMed Central; 2019;19: 89. doi:10.1186/s12862-019-1409-0

Mutalipassi M, Mazzella V, Romano G, Ruocco N, Costantini M, Glaviano F, et al. Growth and toxicity of Halomicronema metazoicum (Cyanoprokaryota, Cyanophyta ) at different conditions of light , salinity and temperature. 2019; doi:10.1242/bio.043604

Zupo V, Mutalipassi M, Glaviano F, Buono AC, Cannavacciuolo A, Fink P. Inducers of settlement and metamorphosis of the shrimp Hippolyte inermis Leach in Posidonia oceanica. Sci Rep. Nature Publishing Group; 2019;9: 1–11. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48110-7

Zupo V, Mutalipassi M, Ruocco N, Glaviano F, Pollio A, Langellotti AL, et al. Distribution of toxigenic Halomicronema spp. In adjacent environments on the island of ischia: Comparison of strains from thermal waters and free living in posidonia oceanica meadows. Toxins (Basel). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; 2019;11: 99. doi:10.3390/toxins11020099

Zupo V, Glaviano F, Paolucci M, Ruocco N, Polese G, Di Cosmo A, et al. Roe enhancement of Paracentrotus lividus: Nutritional effects of fresh and formulated diets. Aquac Nutr. 2019;25: 26–38. doi:10.1111/anu.12826

Ruocco N, Mutalipassi M, Pollio A, Costantini S, Costantini M, Zupo V. First evidence of Halomicronema metazoicum (Cyanobacteria) free-living on Posidonia oceanica leaves. PLoS One. Public Library of Science; 2018;13: e0204954. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0204954

Zupo V, Glaviano F, Caramiello D, Mutalipassi M. Effect of five benthic diatoms on the survival and development of Paracentrotus lividus post-larvae in the laboratory. Aquaculture. Elsevier; 2018;495: 13–20. doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2018.05.028

Mutalipassi M, Maibam C, Zupo V. The sex change of the caridean shrimp Hippolyte inermis Leach: temporal development of the gonopore morphology. Zoomorphology. Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2018;137: 377–388. doi:10.1007/s00435-018-0405-z

Mutalipassi M, Di Natale M, Mazzella V, Zupo V. Automated culture of aquatic model organisms: Shrimp larvae husbandry for the needs of research and aquaculture. Animal. Cambridge University Press; 2018;12: 155–163. doi:10.1017/S1751731117000908

Zupo V, Mutalipassi M, Fink P, di Natale M. Effect of Ocean Acidification on the Communications among Invertebrates Mediated by Plant-Produced Volatile Organic Compounds. Glob J Ecol. 2016;1: 012–018. doi:10.17352/gje.000002