Dr Adrian Pierotti
Lecturer
Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Dr Pierotti received his PhD at the MRC Brain Metabolism Unit (University of Edinburgh) where he worked on neuropeptide processing. He demonstrated differential processing and secretion of somatostatin-28 and -14 in the rat hypothalamus and median eminence [1,2].
Moving to New York to a post-doctoral fellowship at the Mount Sinai Medical Center with Professor Jim Roberts and Dr Marian Orlowski, studies on neuropeptide processing were extended with the characterisation and subsequent cloning of Thimet Oligopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.15) from rat testis [3,4].
Neuropeptide processing and degrading enzymes were the theme of his second post-doctoral fellowship working with Professor Paul Cohen in Paris. There, a number of neuropeptide processing enzymes were characterised and one- the metalloprotease NRD-Convertase (EC 3.4.24.61) was cloned [5-8]. Returning to his native Glasgow in 1993, Dr Pierotti took up a lectureship at SBBS where he continues to work on Thimet Oligopeptidase and NRD-Convertase.