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Michael Bernard Whalen

Research staff

B.Sc. Molecular and Cell Biology, 1986 The Pennsylvania State University, USA, PhD Microbiology and Immunology, 1996 Temple University School of Medicine, USA

orcid://0000-0001-7300-8511,

Contact:

- Email michaelbernard.whalen@ibf.cnr.it
- Phone
- Location Trento

Research interests:

- The impact of Cytomegalovirus on the human immune system (Principal investigator)
- The role of Human Herpesvirus6 and Multiple Sclerosis (Principal investigator)

Further collaborations:

- Gabriella Sole (Cnr-Irgb, CA)
- Maristella Steri (Cnr-Irgb, CA)
- Edoardo Fiorillo (Cnr-Irgb, CA)
- Valeria Orrù (Cnr-Irgb, CA)
- Maristella Pitzalis (Cnr-Irgb, CA)
- Francesca Deidda (Cnr-Irgb, CA)
- Orietta Massidda (CIBIO)
- Anna Ceruseto (CIBIO)
- Daniele Arosio (Cnr-Ibf, TN)

Financial support:

- Immunoageing Horizon 2020 (633964), Fondazione Caritro

Key publications:

Steri M, Idda ML, Whalen MB, Orrù V (2018) Genetic variants in mRNA untranslated regions. Wiley Interdiscip Rev RNA 9(4):e1474

Steri MS, Orù V, Idda ML, Pitzalis MS, Pala M, Zara I, Sidore C, Faà V, Floris M, Deiana M, Asunis I, Porcu E, Mulas A, Piras MG, Lobina M, Lai S, Marongiu M, Serra V, Marongiu M, Sole G, ..., Montgomery SB, Rosati G, Hillert J, Sawcer S, D´Alfonso S, Todd JA, Novembre J, Abecasis GR, Whalen MB, Marrosu MG, Meloni A, Sanna S, Gorospe M, Schlessinger D, Fiorillo E, Zoledziewska M, Cucca F (2017) Evolutionarily selected overexpression of the cytokine BAFF raises autoimmunity risk. New England J Med. 376(17):1615-1626

Orrù V, Steri M, Sole G, Sidore C, Virdis F, Dei M, Lai S, Zoledziewska M, Busonero F, Mulas A, Floris M, Mentzen WI, ..., Firinu D, Leoni L, Rotta G, Naitza S, Angius A, Congia M, Whalen MB, Jones CM, Schlessinger D, Abecasis GR, Fiorillo E, Sanna S, Cucca F (2013) Genetic variants regulating immune cell levels in health and disease. Cell. 155(1):242-56

Francalacci P, Morelli L, Angius A, Berutti R, Reinier F, Atzeni R, Pilu R, Busonero F, Zoledziewska M, ..., Alonso S, Dei M, Lai S, Mulas A, Whalen MB, Uzzau S, Jones C, Schlessinger D, Abecasis GR, Sanna S, Sidore C, Cucca F (2013) Low-pass DNA sequencing of 1200 Sardinians reconstructs European Y-chromosome phylogeny. Science 341(6145):565-9

Naitza S, Porcu E, Steri M, Taub DD, Mulas A, Xiao X, Strait J, Dei M, Lai S, Busonero F, Maschio A, Usala G, Zoledziewska M, Sidore C, Zara I, Pitzalis M, Loi A, Virdis F, Piras R, Deidda F, Whalen MB, Crisponi L, Concas A, Podda C, Uzzau S, Scheet P, Longo DL, Lakatta E, Abecasis GR, Cao A, Schlessinger D, Uda M, Sanna S, Cucca F (2012) A genome-wide association scan on the levels of markers of inflammation in Sardinians reveals associations that underpin its complex regulation. PLoS Genet. 8(1):e1002480

Publications (7):

Genetic variants in mRNA untranslated regions
Steri M, Idda ML, Whalen MB, Orrù V
Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. RNA (Print), 2018
DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1474

Overexpression of the Cytokine BAFF and Autoimmunity Risk
Steri, M.; Orru, V.; Idda, M. L.; Pitzalis, M.; Pala, M.; Zara, I.; Sidore, C.; Faa, V.; Floris, M.; Deiana, M.; Asunis, I.; Porcu, E.; Mulas, A.; Piras, M. G.; Lobina, M.; Lai, S.; Marongiu, M.; Serra, V.; Marongiu, M.; Sole, G.; Busonero, F.; Maschio, A.; Cusano, R.; Cuccuru, G.; Deidda, F.; Poddie, F.; Farina, G.; Dei, M.; Virdis, F.; Olla, S.; Satta, M. A.; Pani, M.; Delitala, A.; Cocco, E.; Frau, J.; Coghe, G.; Lorefice, L.; Fenu, G.; Ferrigno, P.; Ban, M.; Barizzone, N.; Leone, M.; Guerini, F. R.; Piga, M.; Firinu, D.; Kockum, I.; Bomfim, I. Lima; Olsson, T.; Alfredsson, L.; Suarez, A.; Carreira, P. E.; Castillo-Palma, M. J.; Marcus, J. H.; Congia, M.; Angius, A.; Melis, M.; Gonzalez, A.; Riquelme, M. E. A.; da Silva, B. M.; Marchini, M.; Danieli, M. G.; Del Giacco, S.; Mathieu, A.; Pani, A.; Montgomery, S. B.; Rosati, G.; Hillert, J.; Sawcer, S.; D'Alfonso, S.; Todd, J. A.; Novembre, J.; Abecasis, G. R.; Whalen, M. B.; Marrosu, M. G.; Meloni, A.; Sanna, S.; Gorospe, M.; Schlessinger, D.; Fiorillo, E.; Zoledziewska, M.; Cucca, F.
The New England journal of medicine (Print), 2017
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1610528

Detection of phylogenetically informative polymorphisms in the entire euchromatic portion of human Y chromosome from a Sardinian sample Evolutionary Biology
Francalacci, Paolo; Sanna, Daria; Useli, Antonella; Berutti, Riccardo; Berutti, Riccardo; Barbato, Mario; Whalen, Michael B.; Angius, Andrea; Sidore, Carlo; Alonso, Santos; Tofanelli, Sergio; Cucca, Francesco
BMC research notes, 2015
DOI: 10.1186/s13104-015-1130-z

Helicobacter pylori: enemy, commensal or, sometimes, friend?
Whalen, Michael B.; Massidda, Orietta
Journal of infection in developing countries (Online), 2015
DOI: 10.3855/jidc.7186

Low-pass DNA sequencing of 1200 Sardinians reconstructs European Y-chromosome phylogeny
Francalacci P, Morelli L, Angius A, Berutti R, Reinier R, Sidore C, Zara I, Sanna D, Useli A, Busonero F, Maschio A, Urru MF, Marcelli M, Cusano R, Oppo M, Zoledziewska M, Pitzalis M, Deidda F, Poddie F, Kang HM, Li B, Usala G, Piras MG, Lobina M, Mulas A, Dei M, Lai S, Whalen MB, Uzzau S, Schlessinger D, Abecasis GR, Jones C, Sanna S, Cucca F
Science (New York, N.Y.), 2013
DOI: 10.1126/science

Genetic variants regulating immune cell levels in health and disease.
Orrù V, Steri M, Sole G, Sidore C, Virdis F, Dei M, Lai S, Zoledziewska M, Busonero F, Mulas A, Floris M, Mentzen WI, Urru SA, Olla S, Marongiu M, Piras MG, Lobina M, Maschio A, Pitzalis M, Urru MF, Marcelli M, Cusano R, Deidda F, Serra V, Oppo M, Pilu R, Reinier F, Berutti R, Pireddu L, Zara I, Porcu E, Kwong A, Brennan C, Tarrier B, Lyons R, Kang HM, Uzzau S, Atzeni R, Valentini M, Firinu D, Leoni L, Rotta G, Naitza S, Angius A, Congia M, Whalen MB, Jones CM, Schlessinger D, Abecasis GR, Fiorillo E, Sanna S, Cucca F.
Cell (Cambridge), 2013
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.08.041

A genome-wide association scan on the levels of markers of inflammation in Sardinians reveals associations that underpin its complex regulation.
Naitza S, Porcu E, Steri M, Taub DD, Mulas A, Xiao X, Strait J, Dei M, Lai S, Busonero F, Maschio A, Usala G, Zoledziewska M, Sidore C, Zara I, Pitzalis M, Loi A, Virdis F, Piras R, Deidda F, Whalen MB, Crisponi L, Concas A, Podda C, Uzzau S, Scheet P, Longo DL, Lakatta E, Abecasis GR, Cao A, Schlessinger D, Uda M, Sanna S, Cucca F.
PLOS genetics (Online), 2012
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002480