Journal of Pharmacovigilance

Vincenzo Cuomo

Vincenzo Cuomo
Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Human Physiology
University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy

Biography

Dr Vincenzo Cuomo is currently working as a Professor in University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. He earned his Degree in Medicine and Surgery in the year of 1971 at University of Naples, Italy. He was also a fellow at the University if Bari from 1971 to 1973. In the starting years of his carrier he worked as an Assistant Professor at University of Bari from 1973 till 1980. In the year of 1980 he was promoted as Associate Professor and works as same till 1985. He was honored as full professor in 1986, he continued his teaching carrier in University of Bari till 2001. In 2001 he joined University of Rome La Sapienza as a Professor. He had been Visiting Professor at Institute of Toxicology, University of Zurich, Switzerland 1979-1983 and at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He also served as Secretary General of the Italian Society of Toxicology (1986-1992), Member of the European Interlaboratory Study Group on Behavioral Teratology (1989-1993), Member of the Executive Committee of EUROTOX (European Society of Toxicology 1991-1993), Member of the Executive Committee of the Italian Society of Neurosciences (1993-1996), Member of the Executive Committee of the Italian Society of Pharmacology (1995-1997), General Secretary of the Italian Society of Pharmacology (1997-1999) President of the Italian Society of Pharmacology1999-2003 Member of National University Council (2006-2010)and Member of the Scientific Committee of the School of Pharmacy, University of Tor Vergata, Rome (2008-present ). He is author of 241 papers in the field of Neuropsychopharmacology and Neurobehavioral Toxicology most of them are published in outstanding international journals (including Nature Medicine, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, Circulation, Cell Metabolism, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, Pharmacol. Rev. etc). He had been Editor of books on Developmental Neuropharmacology and Neurotoxicology (Raven Press, NY; Pergamon Press, NY; Academic Press, London). He has been invited to join the Editorial Board of Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Neuroscience Research Communication, Toxicology Letters, Pharmacol. Res., World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics, World Journal of Pharmacology and Asian Journal of Pharmacological Sciences. He also acted as an active Organizer of several national and international meetings.

The scientific work of Prof. Vincenzo Cuomo has been carried out also in collaboration with prestigious laboratories (Laboratory of Behavioral Toxicology, University di Zurich, Switzerland; Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences, Division of Toxicology, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA; Dept. of Zoology, Kings College, University of London, UK; Dept. of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA; Dept. of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, London, UK; Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA; Dept. of Neurobiology, Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK; Dept. of Pharmacology; Laboratoire de Toxicologie et d’Hygiene Appliquée, Université Bordeaux II, France; University of Nottingham, UK; Dept. of Pharmacology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA). Moreover, a large number of young scientists have been trained in his laboratory.

Research Interest

The interest of Prof. Vincenzo Cuomo has been mainly focused on the neurobehavioral, neurochemical and electrophysiological alterations associated with the developmental exposure to psychotropic drugs, substances of abuse and environmental chemicals. By using innovative experimental approaches his research has been mainly focused on preclinical patterns for the ontogenetic study of emotionality and also on the neurochemical and behavioral effects following intake of psychotropic drugs during pregnancy or the first stage of postnatal life. One of important steps in the development of behavioral pharmacology and toxicology is represented by his investigations into the feasibility of using the ultrasonic calls emitted by rodents as a bioassay for the effects of psychotropic drugs on emotional reactivity in both infant and adult rats. To exploit this new important area of research, since 1984 Prof. Cuomo has equipped his laboratory with modern and high quality apparatus for recording and analyzing ultrasound emission. By this and other behavioral techniques he provided evidence that the particular period of developmental exposure to psychotropic drugs plays a critical role in producing behavioral and neurochemical abnormalities in rodents.

Prof. Vincenzo Cuomo’s research also focuses on the behavioral and neurochemical effects of neuroactive compounds in animal models of psychiatric disorders. In particular, by using behavioral equipments that allow investigating different facets of memory (i.e., recognition, spatial, contextual memory), emotionality (i.e., rodent models of anxiety and depression) and feeding behavior, his current research is investigating the role plaid by the endocannabinoid system in the regulation of memory, emotions and food intake.

His Laboratory has been involved in the IPCS/WHO Collaborative Study on Neurobehavioral Screening Methods. By using a standard battery of behavioural tests the participating laboratories demonstrated the ability to detect known neurotoxic chemicals and identify profiles of effects that differred from non-neurotoxic agents. Nevertheless, results from the collaborative studies strongly supported the use of behavioural tests in hazard identification.