BrainMap

Robi Tacutu

PhD

Director de proiect, CSII - INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE

Other affiliations

Administrator, CEO / CSO - CELLFABRIK S.R.L. (Romania)

Administrator, CEO / CSO - CHRONOS BIOSYSTEMS SRL (Romania)

Researcher | Entrepreneur

Thorough, analytical, and curiosity-driven scientist, with a multidisciplinary background in biology and computer science, and a long-term commitment and experience in the field of bioinformatics and biology of aging (since 2005). Experienced PI, leading the Systems Biology of Aging Group at the Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy, with several academic projects successfully implemented and managing groups of up to 15 researchers. My experience blends academic and industry skills, having overseen small startup teams (5-6 researchers) in two privately funded R&D projects, thus accumulating significant entrepreneurial experience. My expertise combines both in silico (bioinformatics / computer science / machine learning) and in vitro / in vivo (designing and supervising) research activities, and is supported by a formal education in Biology of Ageing (PhD), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (MSc), and Computer Science (BSc).

Web of Science ResearcherID: J-3146-2012

Curriculum Vitae (16/10/2019)

Expertise & keywords

Impact of Early life MetaBolic and psychosocial strEss on susceptibility to mental Disorders; from converging epigenetic signatures to novel targets for therapeutic intervention Call name: P 3 - SP 3.2 - Proiecte ERA.NET - COFUND
COFUND-NEURON III-EMBED 2019 - 2023

Role in this project: Partner team leader

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE

Project partners: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE (RO); Istituto Superiore di Sanità (IT); Central Institute of Mental Health (DE); McGill University (CA)

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE (RO)

Project website: https://www.biochim.ro/grant-19-embed/

Abstract:

Nearly 40% of the EU population each year suffers from a mental disorder. Adverse experiences early in life can produce important physiological changes, which become embedded biological traces leading to increased vulnerability for later depression. There is now robust evidence indicating that early metabolic challenges impinge upon energy balance regulatory systems, which, in many cases, overlap with stress-response systems. EMBED will identify informative DNA methylation differences associated with prenatal psychological and metabolic stressors in genes that are relevant for mood disorders. These will be related to shared biomarkers to define common biological substrates between early life stress and maternal obesity for prevention and treatment. We will also determine whether intervention strategies can reverse such epigenetic marks and related biomarkers. The relationship between DNA methylation pattern in human peripheral samples (cord blood) and brain will be studied in animal models and brain post-mortem samples from depressive patients. EMBED brings together leading researchers with complementary expertise to exploit existing clinical data sets, including biomaterial collections from previous collaborative proposals, that will be analyzed in an original and innovative way to study the role of different, but often co-occurring, adverse prenatal conditions on individual risk/resilience to develop mental disorders in adulthood. This research may lead not only to a better understanding of the risk architecture of major psychiatric disorders, but could also enable preventive measures in risk populations, new diagnostics and, potentially, therapeutic approaches since, in contrast to genetic variations, epigenetic effects on the transcriptome may be reversed, also in adulthood.

Automated Nematode Screening for Neurodegenerative Diseases Call name: P 2 - SP 2.1 - Proiect experimental - demonstrativ
PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-2593 2020 - 2022

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE

Project partners: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE (RO)

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE (RO)

Project website: https://www.biochim.ro/grant-27-ans-nd/

Abstract:

Ageing is the major risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The graying of the population has been accompanied by a continual increase in the prevalence of neurodegeneration amongst the elderly and is now one of the greatest challenges that healthcare and research has to tackle. In this project, we propose to experimentally develop an integrated and automated solution for screening drugs and genetic interventions for neurodegenerative diseases, using the nematode C. elegans and ageing-related data. The system will include: 1) a network-based, integrative and predictive bioinformatics method for short-listing genetic targets of interest, and 2) a low-cost, modular, automated video-recording platform for healthspan screening in worms. Additionally, we also propose the implementation of a gene activation system that would complement the existing genetic tools for investigating gene function and drug screening in worms, by creating a CRISPR-based overexpression system with the flexibility of RNA interference approaches. Lastly, we propose to validate the developed system by monitoring predicted interventions, both using the automated platform and by traditional lab methods.

Gene Transcriptional Signatures in Healthy Ageing and Related Pathologies Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de cercetare pentru stimularea tinerelor echipe independente
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1020 2020 - 2022

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE

Project partners: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE (RO)

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE (RO)

Project website: https://www.biochim.ro/grant-26-get-sharp/

Abstract:

Aging is considered a major risk factor for the development of late-onset pathologies such as atherosclerosis, cancer, type 2 diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. This suggests that age-related changes in gene expression should, to some extent, resemble the changes in gene expression observed in the above diseases. While the presence of common differentially- expressed genes is essential, this is not sufficient evidence to assume a common molecular basis for aging and ARDs. The important point is whether these genes display similar expression profiles as a whole. However, up until now, this question has not been fully addressed. In this study, we propose to analyze the age-related signatures of different human tissues (brain, muscle, lungs, kidney, and skin), compare them in order to get insights on whether the signatures are tissue-specific or whether there is a “common” aging signature across tissues. Additionally, we aim to search for similar-to-aging gene expression profiles among genetic screens of age-related pathologies. The identified pathological conditions with signatures similar to age-related transcriptional profiles of various tissues and cell types could then be used to build a dual aging-diseases centric model. This model could be extremely useful both at a theoretical level, for a better understanding of the mechanisms behind aging and diseases, as well as at an applicative level, for early-stage detection of late-onset diseases and related pathological conditions.

Multi-omics prediction system for prioritization of gerontological interventions Call name:
POC-A1-A1.1.4-E-2015 2016 - 2020

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE

Project partners: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE ()

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE BIOCHIMIE ()

Project website: http://www.aging-research.group/gerontomics/

Abstract:

Organismal ageing is a biological process defined by a progressive loss of viability and an exponential increase in fragility. With the current advances in high-throughput technologies many of the molecular aspects of ageing can now be easily screened at various “omics” levels (e.g.: genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic, etc), using a wide range of models and starting from various hypotheses (e.g.: analysis of “normal” ageing, long- and short-lived mutants, calorically restricted animals, etc). However, with relation to integration, the field of biogerontology, as it currently stands, is still missing a cohesive approach and is lacking an integrative view on how to combine all these molecular measurements. This project will use a systems biology approach to combine genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics data from various models of ageing in order to create a large-scale data-driven analysis and prediction platform for experimental interventions in gerontology. Using this platform, we first aim to analyze the multidimensional data in a holistic way, using network-based methods, in order to identify conserved and/or specific signatures of ageing. These common and complementary patterns will provide more insights into the mechanisms of ageing and offer the scientific community a data-generated knowledge base of the molecular actors (and their interactions), which play a role in lifespan determination. Next, we aim to test the performance of this computational platform in identifying new longevity regulators by validating its predictive power, first against a priori published results and then, in vivo, by testing lifespan and healthspan of C. elegans mutants under epistatic interventions. Lastly, we aim to build around the software platform and the generated knowledge base a web framework that allows users to access, analyze and build upon the data, in an efficient, easy-to-use manner, providing the scientific community with a suite of tools for guiding wet-lab experiments in gerontology.

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects