Professeur Associé / Associate Professor

Born in Florence, Italy, Prof. Citi has over 30 years of experience in biochemistry and cell biology, and holds Biology and Medicine & Surgery degrees from the University of Florence:

1982, Doctor in Biological Sciences, University of Florence, Florence (Italy), Magna cum Laude. Thesis: Studi comparativi su isoenzimi di acilfosfatasi di muscolo. (Comparative studies on muscle acylphosphatase isoenzymes). Dept. Biochemistry

1989, Doctor in Medicine and Surgery (M.D.), University of Florence, Florence (Italy), Magna cum Laude. Thesis: La localizzazione della cingolina, una proteina specifica della zonula occludens, in tessuti umani normali e nelle neoplasie del colon. (The localization of cingulin, a specific protein of the zonula occludens, in normal human tissues and in colon neoplasias).  Dept. Pathology.

While carrying out her PhD in the Structural Studies Division of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge, UK,1986: Immunological and biochemical studies on the structure and function of brush border myosin. Advisor: Dr. John Kendrick-Jones), she discovered the new junctional protein cingulin. During her postdoctoral work at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel)(1987, funded by an EMBO Fellowship, advisor Dr. Benjamin Geiger), she localized cingulin at tight junctions.

Prior to her arrival at the University of Geneva, Prof. Citi was a Professor and independent Group leader at Cornell University Medical College (Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy) in New York, USA, and at the University of Padova, Italy (Department of Biology).

During her graduate and postdoctoral studies, Prof. Citi received several Fellowships and Prizes. In 2004-2005, she was awarded a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard University.

Prof. Citi has published >100 original research articles and >22 review articles in international peer-reviewed journals, has edited a book and written several book chapters. Her publications have been cited >8500 times in the scientific literature, with an H-index of 56 (Google Scholar) and a RG score of 3,152.

Prof. Citi is serving on the editorial board of several scientific journals and as an ad-hoc reviewer for >25 scientific journals and granting agencies.

The teaching activities of Prof. Citi include courses in cell and tissue biology at the undergraduate, master and PhD level, and guiding the research of postdoctoral fellows, PhD, master and bachelor students.