Institute for Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Research

Paola Picotti is a pioneer in structural systems biology. She developed LiP-MS, a novel technology that combines limited proteolysis with mass spectrometry to monitor changes in protein structure on a proteome-wide scale in biological samples like cells or tissues. She has used LiP-MS to create maps of protein–metabolite interactions and thus revealed structural and functional principles of chemical communication. Paola Picotti also employs proteome-wide approaches to study protein aggregation and protein stability, particularly in the context of protein aggregation diseases. For example, she discovered novel molecular players in neurodegenerative diseases that might be potential targets for the treatment of such disorders and identified novel structural biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease.

Academic Career

Paola Picotti studied medicinal chemistry and obtained her PhD in biotechnology from the University of Padua, Italy, in 2006. Following postdoctoral research at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, she became assistant professor at ETH Zurich in 2011 and was promoted to associate professor in 2017 and to full professor in 2022. Since 2021, she holds a guest professorship at the University of Cologne, Germany. She has received several awards, including the EMBO Gold Medal, the Discovery Award of the Human Proteome Organization, the Rössler Prize of ETH Zurich, the Friedrich Miescher Award, as well as Starting and Consolidator Grants of the ERC. She is an elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and of EMBO.