Curriculum vitae

Education
1989: master degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at University of Cagliari.

1990: master degree in Pharmacy at University of Cagliari.

Employment

2014: Medicinal Chemistry Associate Professor (Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Unit of Pharmaceutical, Pharmacological and Nutraceutical Sciences, University of Cagliari).
2001-2014: Medicinal Chemistry Assistant Professor (University of Cagliari).
1991-2001: Graduated technician at the University of Cagliari.
2013-: Member, Board of the PhD program in Life Environmental and Drug Sciences (University of Cagliari)
2011-2013: Member, Board of the PhD program in Pharmaceutical Science and technologies (University of Cagliari)
2006-2011: Member, Board of the PhD program in Toxicology (University of Cagliari).
2004-2010: Member, Board of the PhD program in Pharmaceutical Sciences (University of Ferrara).

Teaching

From 2011: Professor, Medicinal Chemistry (School of Pharmacy, University of Cagliari)
2001-2010 and 2011-2015: Professor, Drug Analysis (School of Pharmacy, University of Cagliari)

Professional Societies
Member of Italian Chemical Society

Lines of research

Scientific activity: The major research interests are: 1) the design and synthesis of biologically active compounds, especially antitumor, analgesic, antimicrobial agents, and enzyme inhibitors 2) development of new methodology for the synthesis of nitrogen heterocycles.

Le ricerche sono inerenti alla progettazione, sviluppo di metodologie sintetiche per sistemi eterociclici ad attività biologica, studio delle realzioni struttura attività di molecole dotate di attività antitumorale, analgesica e antimicrobica di inibitori enzimatici.
In particolare progettazione sintesi e studio dei rapporti struttura attività di:
– derivati pirrolcarbotioamidici, bispiridilmetanici, tioxopiridinici, oxopiridinici, 2,4- dioxopiridinici, dicianopiridinici, trifluorometilpiridinici, diaminopirazolici, antranilici e complessi metalli di transizione con derivati acetamidrazonici e pirimidinici aventi attività antitumorale;
–  derivati pirrolici, imidazolici, isotiazolici aventi attività antibatterica;
–  derivati S-alchilisotiosemicarbazonici e isonicotinoilidrazonici aventi attività antitubercolare;
– derivati pirimidinici e triazinici dotati di attività agonista od antagonista sui recettori per prokineticine;
–  derivati trifluorometilpiridinici ed ammidi eterocicliche dell’ibuprofene aventi attività analgesica;
– derivati di condensazione tra FANS classici e composti eterociclici poliazotati quali inibitori dell’enzima FAAH.

Active collaborations with other research groups

Prof. Christopher Fowler, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Neuroscience, Umea University, Sweden;
Dr. Vincenzo Di Marzo, Endocannabinoid Research Group, Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council, Pozzuoli, Italy;
Dr. Aron Lichtman, Department of Pharmacology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA;
National Cancer Insitute (Bethesda, MD, USA);
Prof. Claudiu Supuran, University of Florence, Italy;
Prof.ssa Lucia Altucci, Seconda Università di Napoli;
Dr. Bruno Catalanotti, Università of Naples Napoli Federico II, Italy;
Dr. Paola Barbara Arimondo, CNRS, Toulouse, France;
Prof. Stefano Costanzi, American University, Washington, USA;
Dr.  Orit Jacobson, National Health Institute, Bethesda, USA

Latest publications

1. Abou-Hamdan M., Costanza M, Fontana E., Dario M., Musio S., Congiu C., ONNIS V, Lattanzi R., Radaelli M., Martinelli V., Salvadori S., MD, Negri L., Poliani P.L., MD, Farina C., Balboni G., Steinman L., Pedotti R. (2015). Critical role for prokineticin 2 in central nervous system autoimmunity. NEUROLOGY NEUROIMMUNOLOGY & NEUROINFLAMMATION, vol. 2, p. 1-10, ISSN: 2332-7812, doi: 10.1212/NXI.0000000000000095
2. CONGIU C, ONNIS V, BALBONI G, Schiano-Moriello A, Di Marzo V, De Petrocellis L (2015). TRPV1 modulators; Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of 1-heteroarylpiperidinecarboxamide and piperazinylurea derivatives. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 100, p. 129-138, ISSN: 0223-5234, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2015.05.041
3. Caboni P, Aissani N, Demurtas M, Ntalli N, ONNIS V (2015). Nematicidal activity of acetophenones and chalcones against Meloidogyne incognita and structure-activity considerations. PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, ISSN: 1526-498X, doi: 10.1002/ps.3978
4. Vanessa Garnier, Wael Traboulsi, Aude Salomon, Sophie Brouillet, Thierry FOURNIER, Carine Winkler, Beatrice Desvergne, Pascale Hoffmann, Qun-Yong Zhou, CONGIU C, ONNIS V, Mohamed Benharouga, Jean-Jacques Feige, Nadia ALFAIDY (2015). PPAR controls pregnancy outcome through activation of EG-VEGF: New insights into the mechanism of placental development. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY: ENDOCRINOLOGY AND METABOLISM, ISSN: 0193-1849, doi: 26079089
5. Lattanzi R., Congiu C., ONNIS V, Deplano A., Salvadori S., Marconi V., Maftei D., Francioso A., Ambrosio C., Casella I, Costa T., Caltabiano G., Matsoukas M.T., Balboni G, Negri L. (2014). HALOGENATED TRIAZINEDIONES BEHAVE AS ANTAGONIST OF PKR1. IN-VITRO AND IN-VIVO PHARMACOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES AND RESEARCH (PRINT), vol. 5, p. 5064-5072, ISSN: 2320-5148, doi: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.5(11).5064-7
6. A. S. DeToma, J. Krishnamoorthy, Y. Nam, H. J. Lee, J. R. Brender, A. Kochi, D. Lee, ONNIS V, C. Congiu, S. Manfredini, S. Vertuani, G. Balboni, A. Ramamoorthy, M. H. Lim (2014). Aminoisoflavones: interaction and reactivity of these synthetic flavonoids with metal-free and metalassociated amyloid-beta. CHEMICAL SCIENCE, vol. 5, p. 4851-4862, ISSN: 2041-6520, doi: 10.1039/c4sc01531b
7. Congiu C, ONNIS V, Deplano A, Salvadori S, Marconi V, Maftei D, Negri L, Lattanzi R, Balboni G (2014). A New Convenient Synthetic Method and Preliminary Pharmacological Characterization of Triazinediones as Prokineticin Receptor Antagonists. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 81, p. 334-340, ISSN: 0223-5234, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2014.05.030
8. Abou-hamdan M., Costanza M., Fontana E., Musio S., Di Dario M., Congiu C., ONNIS V, Lattanzi R., Negri L., Poliani P.L., Farina C., Balboni G., Steinman L., Pedotti R. (2014). An important role for prokineticin 2 in autoimmune CNS demyelination. JOURNAL OF NEUROIMMUNOLOGY, vol. 275, ISSN: 0165-5728, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroim.2014.08.352
9. Congiu C, ONNIS V, Balboni G, Supuran CT (2014). Synthesis and carbonic anhydrase I, II, IX and XII inhibition studies of 4-N,N-disubstituted sulfanilamides incorporating 4,4,4-trifluoro-3-oxo-but-1-enyl, phenacylthiourea and imidazol-2(3H)- one/thione moieties. BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS, vol. 24, p. 1176-1179, ISSN: 0960-894X, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2014.02.030
10. CONGIU C, ONNIS V (2013). Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel acylhydrazone derivatives as potential antitumor agents. BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 21, p. 6592-6599, ISSN: 0968-0896, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2013.08.026
11. Balboni G, Congiu C, Onnis V, Maresca A, Scozzafava A, Winum JY, Maietti A, Supuran CT. (2012). Flavones and structurally related 4-chromenones inhibit carbonic anhydrases by a different mechanism of action compared to coumarins. . BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS, vol. 22, p. 3056-3062, ISSN: 0960-894X, doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2012.03.071
12. Fowler C.J., Björklund E., Lichtman A. H., Naidu P.S., Cenzo Congiu C., ONNIS V (2012). Inhibitory properties of ibuprofen and its amide analogues towards the hydrolysis and cyclooxygenation of the endocannabinoid anandamide. JOURNAL OF ENZYME INHIBITION AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, p. 1-11, ISSN: 1475-6366, doi: 10.3109/14756366.2011.643304
13. Wall R.J., He G., Denison M.S., Congiu C., ONNIS V, Fernandes A., Bell D.R., Rose M., Rowlands J. C., Balboni G., Mellor I.R. (2012). Novel 2-amino-isoflavones exhibit aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist or antagonist activity in a species/cell-specific context. TOXICOLOGY, vol. 297, p. 26-33, ISSN: 0300-483X, doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2012.03.011
14. JACOBSON O, WEISS ID, NIU G, BALBONI G, CONGIU C, ONNIS V, KIESEWETTER DO, LATTANZI R, SALVADORI S, CHEN X (2011). Prokineticin Receptor 1 Antagonist PC-10 as a Biomarker for Imaging Inflammatory Pain. THE JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE, vol. 52, p. 600-607, ISSN: 0161-5505, doi: 10.2967/jnumed.110.084772
15. ONNIS V, CONGIU C, BJOKRLUND E, HEMPEL F, SODERSTROM E, FOWLER C.J (2010). Synthesis and Evaluation of Paracetamol Esters As Novel Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase Inhibitors. JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 53, p. 2286-2298, ISSN: 0022-2623, doi: 10.1021/jm901891p
16. CONGIU C, ONNIS V, VESCI L, CASTORINA M, PISANO C (2010). Synthesis and in vitro antitumor activity of new 4,5-dihydropyrazole derivatives. BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 18, p. 6238-6248, ISSN: 0968-0896, doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2010.07.037
17. ONNIS V, DE LOGU A, COCCO M.T, FADDA R, MELEDDU R, CONGIU C (2009). 2-Acylhydrazino-5-arylpyrrole derivatives: Synthesis and antifungal activity evaluation. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 44, p. 1288-1295, ISSN: 0223-5234, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2008.08.003
18. ONNIS V, COCCO M.T, FADDA R, CONGIU C (2009). Synthesis and Evaluation of Anticancer Activity of 2-Arylamino- 6-trifluoromethyl-3 (hydrazonocarbonyl)pyridines. BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 17, p. 6158-6165, ISSN: 0968-0896, doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2009.07.066
19. FOWLER C.J, NAIDU P.S, LICHTMAN A, ONNIS V (2009). The case for the development of novel analgesic agents targeting both fatty acid amide hydrolase and either cyclooxygenase or transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1. BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY, vol. 156, p. 412-419, ISSN: 0007-1188, doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.2008.00029.x
20. CONGIU C, COCCO MT, ONNIS V (2008). Design, synthesis, and in vitro antitumor activity of new 1,4-diarylimidazole-2-ones and their 2-thione analogues. BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS, vol. 18, p. 989-993, ISSN: 0960-894X, doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2007.12.023
21. ONNIS V, COCCO M.T, LILLIU V, CONGIU C (2008). Synthesis and evaluation of antitumoral activity of ester and amide derivatives of 2-arylamino-6- trifluoromethyl-3-pyridinecarboxylic acids. BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, vol. 16, p. 2367-2378, ISSN: 0968-0896, doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2007.11.069

Website

http://people.unica.it/valentinaonnis/