Emiliano Manzo

Dr. Emiliano Manzo graduated in Chemistry (‘Organic Chemistry’) at the University of Naples “Federico II” on 19 July 1996 with a score of 110/110 cum laude. In 2001 he obtained a PhD in “Chemical Sciences” (Cycle XIII) at the University of Naples “Federico II” discussing the thesis “Interactions between carbohydrates and metal ions”. Since 2001 he was a Researcher and since January 2021 he has been Senior Researcher at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry of the National Research Council (CNR).

Dr. Manzo’s research activity falls within the field of Organic Chemistry, Synthesis and Chemical Biology. This activity is mainly focused on the synthesis and biological and pharmacological characterization of natural and/or nature inspired small molecules and the study of the chemical-physical behavior of bioactive lipid metabolites in water. In this context, both the structural characterization and the organic chemical synthesis of compounds with potential pharmacological applications have been, are and will be an essential tool for the understanding of even complex biological systems such as in particular those concerning the cells of the immune system and in general of the immune reaction. Dr. Manzo’s research activity is guided by an investigation through chemistry which is not considered an end in itself, but a crucial means for understanding basic cellular mechanisms and inserted in interdisciplinary fields, fundamental for possible future pharmacological and therapeutics, all aimed at the identification and preparation of molecules to be proposed as new lead compounds in the pharmaceutical field.

Chemical Synthesis


>Bioactive metabolites


SAR studies

1. Emiliano Manzo,* Laura Fioretto, Carmela Gallo, Marcello Ziaco, Genoveffa Nuzzo, Giuliana D’Ippolito, Assunta Borzacchiello, Antonio Fabozzi, Raffaele De Palma, Angelo Fontana “Preparation, Supramolecular Aggregation and Immunological Activity of the Bona Fide Vaccine Adjuvant Sulfavant S” Marine Drugs (ISSN): 16603397), 2020, 18 (9), 451; doi: 10.3390/md18090451

2. Emiliano Manzo, Carmela Gallo, Rossella Sartorius, Genoveffa Nuzzo, Angela Sardo, Piergiuseppe De Berardinis, Angelo Fontana, Adele Cutignano “Immunostimulatory phosphatidylmonogalactosyldiacylglycerols (PGDG) from the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii: inspiration for a novel synthetic Toll-like receptor 4 agonist”. Marine Drugs (ISSN): 16603397), 2019, 17, 103; doi:10.3390/md17020103

3. Emiliano Manzo,* Carmela Gallo, Laura Fioretto, Genoveffa Nuzzo, Giusi Barra, Dario Pagano, Irene Russo Krauss, Luigi Paduano, Marcello Ziaco, Marina Della Greca, Raffaele De Palma, Angelo Fontana “Diasteroselective colloidal self-assembly affects the immunological response of the molecular adjuvant Sulfavant”. ACS Omega (ISSN): 24701343), 2019, 4 (4), 7807-7814. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b03304

4. Emiliano Manzo, Aniello Schiano Moriello, Francesco Tinto, Roberta
   Verde, Marco Allarà, Luciano De Petrocellis, Ester Pagano, Angelo A. Izzo,
   Vincenzo Di Marzo, Stefania Petrosino “A glucuronic acid-palmitoylethanolamide conjugate (GLUPEA) is an innovative drug delivery system and a potential bioregulator” Cells, 2021, 10(2), 450; doi: 10.3390/cells10020450

5. Emiliano Manzo, Adele Cutignano, Dario Pagano, Carmela Gallo, Giusi Barra, Genoveffa Nuzzo, Clementina Sansone, Adrianna Ianora, Konrad Urbanek, Daniela Fenoglio, Francesca Ferrera, Cinzia Bernardi, Alessia Parodi, Giuseppe Pasquale, Antonio Leonardi, Gilberto Filaci, Raffaele De Palma and Angelo Fontana “A new marine-derived sulfoglycolipid triggers dendritic cell activation and immune adjuvant response”. Scientific Reports (Nature) (ISSN): 2045-2322), 2017; 7: 1-10; doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-05969-8