Riccardo Cavalieri PhD

Riccardo gained his undergraduate degree in Biology in Italy, at the University of Pavia. Following the advice of his biochemistry professor, he then moved to London to attend the MSc in Biomedical and Molecular Research at King’s College London. During his time at King’s in the laboratories at St Thomas’ Hospital he worked on a project investigating mitochondrial fission in neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury. He became fascinated with mitochondria and particularly mitochondrial carriers, the membrane proteins that shuttle metabolites across the mitochondrial inner membrane.
This proved to be his introduction to the wonderful world of membrane proteins, which is to this day his main scientific interest. Pursuing this passion Riccardo moved to Norwich, where he obtained a PhD position at the University of East Anglia with a research project on one such protein, the Uncoupling Protein 1 (UCP1). He then spent the next four years researching UCP1 activity and structure using liposomes, transport assays and thermostability based ligand assays, gaining experience in membrane protein expression, purification, and reconstitution in membrane mimetic environments.

After finishing his PhD Riccardo decided he wanted to explore life outside academia. He then found the opportunity to join Peak Proteins and keep working on membrane proteins.

When he is not working in the laboratory Riccardo enjoys cooking (especially pasta), playing videogames, travelling, and visiting museums and art galleries. He is also a keen reader, particularly of fantasy novels, but also of history, philosophy, and poetry.