Filippo M. RIJLI's career has developed internationally in both academia and industry. In brief: Master's Degree in Biological Sciences from University of Pisa (1985), National Institutes of Health (NIH) USA (1987), PhD from University of Pisa (1988-1991), postdoctoral fellow at LGME, Strasbourg, France (1992-1996), visiting scientist at King's College, London, UK (1997). He directed the Laboratory of Developmental Molecular Biology at the Institut de Genetique et Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Strasbourg (1996-2007). Since 2001, Filippo M. Rijli has been Research Director at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). Since 2008, he has been Director of the Laboratory of Developmental Neuroepigenetics at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (Novartis) in Basel. Since 2012, he has been Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Basel. His international awards include the Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale (FRM) Prize, the Lacassagne Prize (Collège de France), he is an elected member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, and a European Research Council (ERC) awardee.
Filippo M. Rijli carried out pioneering studies on the functional role of homeodomain transcription factors in the development of the nervous and craniofacial systems of the mammalian embryo (Cell 1993, Neuron 1999, Nature Genetics 2001). He and his collaborators also discovered that these transcription factors are required for brain mapping of the so-called sensory 'homunculus' (Science 2006). In addition, his work on the molecular regulation of neural crest-derived craniofacial, outer and middle ear development is providing a better understanding of certain congenital craniofacial (e.g. cleft palate) and ear (e.g. microtia) anomalies. More recently, Filippo M. Rijli and collaborators have discovered novel epigenetic chromatin signatures that maintain fate plasticity of neurons and neural crest cells during brain and craniofacial development (Science 2013, Science 2017, Nature Genetics 2021). He is currently also interested in the chromatin regulation of adult human and mouse cartilage reprogramming and regeneration. Together, these basic research findings have significant implications for the clinical interpretation of neonatal craniofacial malformations and for regenerative medicine.
