Groupleader: Fabio Lolicato

Since  2024	Group Leader at the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH)
2023 - 2024	Principal Investigator at the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH)
2019 – 2023	Post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Walter Nickel, BZH, Heidelberg, Germany
2016 –  2020	Ph.D. in Computational Biophysics, University of Helsinki, Finland
2013 –  2015	Visiting Researcher, Tampere University of Technology, Finland
2011 –  2013	M.Sc. in Material Chemistry, University of Catania, Italy
2006 –  2011	B.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Catania, Italy

Second row, from left to right:
Laura Scheller (Master Student), Zynep Kilcan (Master Student), Ana Marija Knez (PhD Student), Dr. Melanie König (Postdoc), Cameron Smith (Bachelor Student), Fabio Lolicato (PI)

First row, from left to right:
Manpreet Kaur (PhD Student), Anke Heymann (Administrative Assistant), Ali Lashkari (PhD Student), Andrei Mironenko (Postdoc), Irene Reina (PhD Student), Jonathan Thelen (Bachelor Student)

Postdocs:
Dr. Melanie König
Dr. Andrei Mironenko

PhD Students:
Irene Reina
Suvi Selliah
Manpreet Kaur
Ana Marija Knez
Ali Lashkari

Bachelor and Master Students:
Zynep Kilcan
Jonathan Thelen
Cameron Smith
Bangka Li

Alumni:
Laura Scheller






















 

Patents
(1)     Patent PCT/EP2022/083143: Martin-Villalba A, Brügger B, Vattulainen I, Lolicato F, Gülcüler Balta G (2021, granted 2023) "CD95 Polypeptides"; WO2023/094527 (Pending) 
 

Complete list of publications:

(1)        Lolicato F#, Kaur M, Knez A M, Saleppico R, Nickel W. (2025) Does Plasma Membrane Transbilayer Asymmetry Coupled to Lipid Nanodomains Drive Fast Kinetics of FGF2 Membrane Translocation into the Extracellular Space? Faraday Discussions
 
(2)        Lolicato F#, Steringer JP, Saleppico R, Beyer D, Fernandez-Sobaberas J, Unger S, Klein S, Riegerová P, Wegehingel S, Müller HM, Freund C, Hof, M, Šachl R, ChlandaP, Vattulainen I, and Nickel W (2024) Disulfide bridge-dependent dimerization triggers FGF2 membrane translocation into the extracellular space. eLife
 
(3)        Lolicato F#, Nickel W, Haucke V, Ebner M (2024) Phosphoinositide switches in cell physiology-from molecular mechanisms to disease. J. Biol. Chem.
 
(4)        Kádková A, Murach J, Østergaard M, Malsam A, Malsam J, Lolicato F, Nickel W, Söllner T H, Sørensen J B. (2024) SNAP25 disease mutations change the energy landscape for synaptic exocytosis due to aberrant SNARE interactions. eLife
 
(5)        Kiirikki A M, Antila H S, Bort L S, Buslaev P, Favela-Rosales F, Ferreira T M, Fuchs P F, GarciaFandino R, Gushchin I, Kav B, Kučerka N, Kula P, Kurki M, Kuzmin A, Lalitha A, Lolicato F, Madsen J J, Miettinen M S, Mingham C, Monticelli L, Nencini R, Nesterenko A M, Piggot T J, Piñeiro Á, Reuter N, Samantray S, Suárez-Lestón F, Talandashti R, Ollila O S. (2024) Overlay databank unlocks datadriven analyses of biomolecules for all. Nat. Commun.
 
(6)        Griffo A, Sparn C, Lolicato F, Nolle F, Khangholi N,  Seemann R,  Fleury JB,  Brinkmann M,  Nickel W,  Hähl H. (2024) Mechanics of biomimetic free-standing lipid membranes: Insights on lipid chemistry and bilayer elasticity.RSC advances.  
                                                        
(7)        Singh V, Macharová S,Riegerová P, Steringer J P, Müller H-M, Lolicato F, Nickel W, Hof M, and Šachl R (2023) Determining the Functional Oligomeric State of Membrane-Associated Protein Oligomers Forming Membrane Pores on Giant Lipid Vesicles. Anal. Chem.
 
(8)        Klein S, Golani G, Lolicato F*, Beyer D, Herrmann A, Wachsmuth-Melm M, Reddmann N, Brecht R, Lahr C, Hosseinzadeh M, Kolovou A, Schorb M, Schwab Y, Brügger B, Nickel W, Schwarz U S, Chlanda P (2023) IFITM3 blocks viral entry by sorting lipids and stabilizing hemifusion. Cell Host&Microbe
 
(9)        Winter S. L, Golani G, Lolicato F, Vallbracht M, Thiyagarajah K, Ahmed S S, Lüchtenborg C, Fackler O T, Brügger B, Hoenen T, Nickel W, Schwarz U S, Chlanda P. (2023) The Ebola Virus VP40 Matrix Undergoes Endosomal Disassembly Essential for Membrane Fusion, EMBO J.
 
(10)    Kupke T, Götz R M, Richter F M, Beck R, Lolicato F, Nickel W, Hopf C and Brügger B. (2023) In vivo characterization of the bacterial intramembrane-cleaving protease RseP using the heme binding tag-based assay iCliPSpy. Commun. Biol.
 
(11)    Lolicato F#, Saleppico R, Griffo A, Meyer A, Scollo F, Pokrandt B, Müller HM, Ewers H, Hähl H, Fleury JB, Seemann R, Hof M, Brügger B, Jacobs K, Vattulainen I, Nickel W (2022) Cholesterol promotes clustering of PI(4,5)P2 driving unconventional secretion of FGF2. J. Cell. Biol.  
 
(12)    Korolainen H, Lolicato F, Enkavi G, Pérez-Gil J, Kulig W, Vattulainen I. (2022) Dimerization of the Pulmonary Surfactant Protein C in a Membrane Environment. PLoS One. 
 
(13)    Lolicato F#, Nickel W. (2022) A Role for Liquid-Ordered Plasma Membrane Nanodomains Coordinating the Unconventional Secretory Pathway of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2? Front. Cell Dev. Biol.  
 
(14)    Tempra C, Scollo F, Pannuzzo M, Lolicato F#, La Rosa C. A (2022) Unifying Framework for AmyloidMediated Membrane Damage: The Lipid-Chaperone Hypothesis. BBA-Proteins Proteom.  
 
(15)    Tempra C, La Rosa C, Lolicato F. (2021) The Role of Alpha-Helix on the Structure-Targeting Drug Design of Amyloidogenic Proteins. Chem. Phys. Lipids.  
 
(16)    Sciacca M F, Lolicato F*, Tempra C, Scollo F, Sahoo B R, Watson M D, García-Viñuales, S, Milardi D, Raudino A, Lee, J. C, Ramamoorthy A, La Rosa C. (2020) Lipid-Chaperone Hypothesis: A Common Molecular Mechanism of Membrane Disruption by Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. ACS Chem. Neurosci.
 
(17)    Legrand C, Saleppico R, Sticht, J, Lolicato F, Müller H-M, Wegehingel S, Dimou E, Steringer J P, Ewers H, Vattulainen I, Freund C, Nickel W. (2020) The Na,K-ATPase Acts Upstream of Phosphoinositide PI(4,5)P2Facilitating Unconventional Secretion of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2. Commun. Biol.  
 
(18)    Lucendo E, Sancho M, Lolicato F, Javanainen M, Kulig W, Leiva D, Duart G, Andreu-Fernández V, Mingarro I, Orzáez M. (2020) Mcl-1 and Bok Transmembrane Domains: Unexpected Players in the Modulation of Apoptosis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA.
 
(19)    Kurth M, Lolicato F, Sandoval-Perez A, Amaya-Espinosa H, Teslenko A, Sinning I, Beck R, Brügger B, Aponte-Santamaría C. (2020) Cholesterol Localization around the Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2. J. Phys. Chem. B. 
 
(20)    Romanucci V, García-Viñuales S, Tempra C, Bernini R, Zarrelli A, Lolicato F #, Milardi D, Di Fabio G. (2020) Modulating Aβ Aggregation by Tyrosol-Based Ligands: The Crucial Role of the Catechol Moiety. Biophys. Chem.  
              
(21)    Lolicato F, Juhola H, Zak A, Postila P. A, Saukko A, Rissanen S, Enkavi G, Vattulainen I, Kepczynski M, Róg T. (2020) Membrane-Dependent Binding and Entry Mechanism of Dopamine into Its Receptor. ACS Chem. Neurosci.  
 
(22)    La Rosa C, Condorelli M, Compagnini G, Lolicato F, Milardi D, Do T N, Karttunen M, Pannuzzo M, Ramamoorthy A, Fraternali F, Collu F, Rezaei H, Strodel B, Raudino A. (2020) Symmetry-Breaking Transitions in the Early Steps of Protein Self-Assembly. Eur. Biophys. J.   
 
(23)    Lolicato F, Joly L, Martinez-Seara H, Fragneto G, Scoppola E, Baldelli Bombelli F, Vattulainen I, Akola J, Maccarini M. (2019) The Role of Temperature and Lipid Charge on Intake/Uptake of Cationic Gold Nanoparticles into Lipid Bilayers. Small.  
 
(24)    Gurtovenko A A, Javanainen M, Lolicato F, Vattulainen I. (2019) The Devil Is in the Details: What Do We Really Track in Single-Particle Tracking Experiments of Diffusion in Biological Membranes? J. Phys. Chem. Lett.  
 
(25)    Scollo F, Tempra C, Lolicato F, Sciacca M F. M, Raudino A, Milardi D, La Rosa C. (2018) Phospholipids Critical Micellar Concentrations Trigger Different Mechanisms of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Interaction with Model Membranes. J. Phys. Chem. Lett.
 
(26)    Juhola H, Postila P. A, Rissanen S, Lolicato F, Vattulainen I, Róg T. (2018) Negatively Charged Gangliosides Promote Membrane Association of Amphipathic Neurotransmitters. Neurosci.
 
(27)    D’Urso L, Condorelli M, Puglisi O, Tempra C, Lolicato F, Compagnini G, La Rosa C. (2018) Detection and Characterization at NM Concentration of Oligomers Formed by HIAPP, Aβ(1–40) and Their Equimolar Mixture Using SERS and MD Simulations. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.  
 
(28)    Danne R, Poojari C, Martinez-Seara H, Rissanen S, Lolicato F, Róg T, Vattulainen I. (2017) DoGlycans –Tools for Preparing Carbohydrate Structures for Atomistic Simulations of Glycoproteins, Glycolipids, and Carbohydrate Polymers for GROMACS. J. Chem. Inf. Model.
 
(29)    Sciacca, Michele. F. M, Romanucci V, Zarrelli A, Monaco I, Lolicato F, Spinella N, Galati C, Grasso G, D’Urso L, Romeo M, Diomede L, Salmona M, Bongiorno C, Di Fabio G, La Rosa C, Milardi D. (2017) Inhibition of Aβ Amyloid Growth and Toxicity by Silybins: The Crucial Role of Stereochemistry. ACS Chem. Neurosci.  
 
(30)    Steringer J P, Lange S, Čujová S, Šachl R, Poojari C, Lolicato F, Beutel O, Müller H-M, Unger S, Coskun Ü, Honigmann A, Vattulainen I, Hof M, Freund C, Nickel W. (2017) Key Steps in Unconventional Secretion of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 Reconstituted with Purified Components. 
eLife. 
 
(31)    Sciacca M F. M, Lolicato F, Di Mauro G, Milardi D, D’Urso L, Satriano C, Ramamoorthy A, La Rosa C. (2016) The Role of Cholesterol in Driving IAPP-Membrane Interactions. Biophys. J.  
 
(32)    La Rosa C, Scalisi S, Lolicato F, Pannuzzo M, Raudino A. (2016) Lipid-Assisted Protein Transport: A Diffusion-Reaction Model Supported by Kinetic Experiments and Molecular Dynamics Simulations. J. Chem. Phys.
 
(33)    Lolicato F, Raudino A, Milardi D, La Rosa C. (2015) Resveratrol Interferes with the Aggregation of Membrane-Bound Human-IAPP: A Molecular Dynamics Study. Eur. J. Med. Chem.  
  
Preprints: 
 
(1)        Pedersen K B, Ingólfsson H I, Ramirez-Echemendia D P, Borges-Araújo L, Andreasen M D, Empereur-Mot C, Melcr J, Ozturk T N, Bennett D W F, Kjølbye L R, Brasnett C, Corradi V, Khan H M, Cino E A, Crowley J, Kim H, Fábián B, Borges-Araújo A C, Pavan G M, Lolicato F, Wassenaar T A, Melo M N, Thallmair S, Carpenter T S, Monticelli L, Tieleman D P, Schiøtt B, Souza P C T, Marrink S J. (2024). The Martini 3 lipidome: expanded and refined parameters improve lipid phase behavior BioRxiv.  
 
(2)        Hempelmann P, Lolicato F, Graziadei A, Brown R D R, Spiegel S, Rappsilber J, Nickel W, Höglinger D, Jamecna D. (2023) The sterol transporter STARD3 transports sphingosine at ER-lysosome contact sites. BioRxiv.  
 

 

SFB1638
Cellular membrane remodelling – how changing form creates function



SFB/TRR186
Molecular Switches in the Spatio-temporal Control of Cellular Signal Transmission


DFG Individual Research Grant
Structure-function relationship of FGF2 oligomers forming dynamic membrane pores in unconventional protein secretion