Ph.D Student
Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms Department

Tel.: +39 081 5833255
Fax: +39 081 7641355
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Curriculum Vitae

Director of Studies: Maria Ina Arnone
External Supervisor: Gaspar Jekely
Program: Open University, XXX cycle

Research Interests

The Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone (TRH) has a central role on regulation of metabolism, growth and reproduction in mammals and non-mammalian vertebrates. However, its role in invertebrates so far remains poorly investigated.
My work aims to assess the role of this neuropeptide pathway during sea urchin larval growth and its evolution in deuterostomes. For that, I apply both molecular and physiological approaches to characterize the TRH pathway in two sea urchin species (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and Paracentrotus lividus) and in the sea star Patiria miniata.

Publications

Perillo M, Paganos P, Mattiello T, Cocurullo M, Oliveri P and Arnone MI (2018) New Neuronal Subtypes With a “Pre-Pancreatic” Signature in the Sea Urchin Stongylocentrotus purpuratus. Front. Endocrinol. 9:650. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2018.00650

Cocurullo M, Wood N, Oliveri P, Arnone MI. P13 Go-opsin expressing cells in sea urchin larvae produce a TRH neuropeptide, which influences arm growth. Abstracts of the 6th Meeting of the Neapolitan Brain Group. BMC Neurosci. 2018;19(3):67. doi:10.1186/s12868-018-0466-4.