Dr Fabrizio Alberti

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick

Scientific Background

Research Interests

Fungi represent an incredibly rich reservoir of natural products, which often show potent bioactivity and find applications in different fields, including medicine and crop protection. Research in the Alberti Lab aims to discover new molecules from fungi with useful bioactivities and understand how these compounds are assembled.

To this aim, we have recently developed a platform, based on Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast), that accumulates increased amounts of precursors to a specific class of natural products called isoprenoid quinones.

We are also developing new synthetic biology tools to be used in basidiomycete (mushroom-forming) fungi that will enable us and the wider scientific community to exploit the genetic potential of this underexplored class of microorganisms.

You can read Fabrizio's interview taken as part of the School's 'Get to know us' series here.

Scientific Inspiration

One of my professional role models is Rita Levi-Montalcini, an Italian neurobiologist whose commitment and devotion to science I find particularly inspiring. During the Second World War she was banned from holding a university appointment due to the anti-Jewish laws, so she set up a lab in her own home and conducted research that set the foundations to her later work on nerve growth that led her to being awarded the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986.

Research Groups

Alberti Lab

Quantitative, Systems & Engineering Biology

Microbiology & Infectious Disease

Environment & Ecology

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: Supportive, outcome-orientated, collaborative

Provision of Teaching

Your technical training will be provided by senior team members (including myself, my Post-doctoral Research Associate and Senior Research Technician), in the first instance. Consequently, you will be expected to develop a more independent approach to your own training that will involve literature research, as well as discussions with colleagues and collaborators.

Progression Monitoring and Management

I monitor the progress of my PhD students through regular progress meetings. I like to be kept up to date with research, which can take place either through supervision meetings or presentations at group meetings. I like to have an agreed timeframe of experiments and outcomes with students. If progress is slower than expected, we will discuss a plan of action to take into account the reasons for it and come up with a revised strategy, as well as ways for you to be fully supported to achieve your goals.

Communication

Communication between me and you will take place primarily via emails, though my door is always open and my team members often knock at my office to ask for advice. I expect all my team members to have a good work/life balance and I never send emails out of standard working hours (e.g. evenings and weekends). We have a team’s WhatsApp group chat, which we regularly use to communicate lab matters.

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me:

In a group meeting

At least once per week

In year 1 of PhD study

At least once per fortnight

In year 2 of PhD study

At least once per month

In year 3 of PhD study

At least once per month

These meetings will be mainly face to face, and I am usually contactable for an instant response on every working day.

Working Pattern

Work in my lab requires being present on site (be it in a laboratory or at a field site) during the core hours of 9 am – 5 pm (or a subset if working part time).

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 1 week’s notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.

Project Details

Dr Alberti is supervisor for the below project:

Harnessing biopharmaceuticals from fungi

Secondary Supervisor(s): Professor Christophe Corre

University of Registration: University of Warwick

BBSRC Research Themes: Understanding the Rules of Life (Microbiology)

Apply here!

Deadline: 23 May, 2024

Project Outline

Most of the bioactive molecules used in agriculture and medicine are made by microorganisms. For instance, Abamectin derives from actinomycete bacteria and is one of the most widely used insecticides in crop protection, with a global market of $938 million every year. Similarly, penicillin and cephalosporin antibiotics come from fungi and represent together 47% ($19.8 billion) of the global antibiotic market. This project will focus on natural product discovery from microorganism to address the rise of antimicrobial resistance and the need for greener alternatives to currently used pesticides.

Objectives

Work in the Alberti lab focuses on the discovery of natural products, such as antimicrobials and anticancer molecules, made by microorganisms, i.e. higher fungi and actinomycete bacteria.1,2

The main objectives of the PhD project will be:

To perform bioinformatics analysis on cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters that are likely to produce novel bioactive compounds.
To reconstitute the enzymatic pathway of interest in an industrially relevant heterologous host, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Aspergillus oryzae.
To rewire the metabolism of the heterologous host to improve production of the biopharmaceutical of interest.

Methods

This multidisciplinary PhD project will allow the student to develop knowledge in the fields of molecular and synthetic biology, microbial genomics and analytical chemistry.

Genomic and transcriptomic data will be generated for the microorganism of interest and subjected to bioinformatic analyses, in order to pinpoint genes and gene clusters putatively involved in the pathway under study. Gene cloning techniques, such as Golden Gate assembly, Gibson assembly and yeast-based homologous recombination, will be used to clone the genes of interest and assemble them into suitable expression vectors for the chosen heterologous host. Heterologous expression of the genes of interest will allow us to recreate and elucidate the enzymatic pathway in an industrially relevant microorganism, e.g. S. cerevisiae or A. oryzae. Metabolic analyses will be performed in order to characterise the reaction products and define the catalytic function of the enzymes. Genetic engineering will be performed (e.g. through CRISPR/Cas9) with the aim to improve the production of the biopharmaceutical of interest.

Relevant papers

https://www.alberti-lab.com/

Tamizi, A-A, Mat-Amin, N, Weaver, JA, Olumakaiye, RT, Akbar, MA, Jin, S, Bunawan, H,* Alberti, F* (2022) Genome Sequencing and Analysis of Trichoderma (Hypocreaceae) Isolates Exhibiting Antagonistic Activity against the Papaya Dieback Pathogen, Erwinia mallotivora. Journal of Fungi 8, 246. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8030246.

Alberti, F,* Leng, D, Wilkening, I, Tosin, M, Song, L, Corre, C. * (2019) Triggering the expression of a silent gene cluster from genetically intractable bacteria results in scleric acid discovery. Chemical Science 10 (2): 453-463. doi: 10.1039/C8SC03814G.

Techniques

Genomic and transcriptomic analyses
Bioinformatic analyses of microbial genomes and gene clusters
PCR, gene cloning, CRISPR/Cas9 and other molecular biology techniques
Generation of engineered microbial strains
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy

Dr Alberti is also co-supervisor for a project with Professor Tim Bugg.

Previous Projects

Previous projects can only be viewed by staff and students. Please make sure you are logged in to see this content.