Principal Investigator
Anthony S. Grillo, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry
Biochemistry Division
Department of Chemistry
Biochemistry Division
Tony was raised in Michigan before obtaining his bachelor's degrees in Biochemistry and Chemistry from the University of Michigan. He performed research in the Koreeda Lab synthesizing isotopically labeled curcumin derivatives for solid state NMR structural studies and developing novel chiral N-heterocyclic carbenes.
He began graduate studies in Marty Burke's Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an NSF predoctoral fellow (NSF GRFP). His thesis centered on the discovery, development, and mechanistic understanding of small molecules that mimic protein function to restore physiology to protein-deficient organisms, thereby acting as prostheses on the molecular scale. He discovered a small molecule that autonomously promotes the site- and direction-selective transport of iron across lipid bilayers by harnessing built-up iron gradients upstream of membranes that normally host missing iron transport proteins such as ferroportin. This small molecule restored iron absorption and hemoglobinization in mice, rats, or zebrafish missing iron transport proteins that move iron across lipid bilayers in different organelles and directions.
As an NRSA postdoctoral fellow and Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Trainee in Matt Kaeberlein's Lab at the University of Washington, Dr. Grillo elucidated the role of protein kinase C in promoting neuroinflammation in mice missing Complex I of the Electron Transport Chain, and probed the etiology of mitochondrial dysfunction in tauopathies and movement disorders. He joined the University of Cincinnati Department of Chemistry (Biochemistry Division) in July 2022 as an Assistant Professor.
Dr. Grillo's background in biochemistry, chemical biology, mitochondrial biology, and metabolic physiology make him excited to uniquely perform interdisciplinary research centered on revealing how mitochondrial dysfunction alters micronutrient metabolism (e.g. metals, branched chain amino acids, oxygen, vitamins, etc.) to elicit neurodegeneration in movement disorders and other neurometabolic diseases. Work in his lab employs diverse in vitro and in vivo models including yeast, primary cell culture, nematodes, or mice.
Dr. Grillo enjoys golfing, fishing, cooking, spending time with family, and watching University of Michigan sports.
email: grilloas [at] uc [dot] edu
He began graduate studies in Marty Burke's Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an NSF predoctoral fellow (NSF GRFP). His thesis centered on the discovery, development, and mechanistic understanding of small molecules that mimic protein function to restore physiology to protein-deficient organisms, thereby acting as prostheses on the molecular scale. He discovered a small molecule that autonomously promotes the site- and direction-selective transport of iron across lipid bilayers by harnessing built-up iron gradients upstream of membranes that normally host missing iron transport proteins such as ferroportin. This small molecule restored iron absorption and hemoglobinization in mice, rats, or zebrafish missing iron transport proteins that move iron across lipid bilayers in different organelles and directions.
As an NRSA postdoctoral fellow and Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Trainee in Matt Kaeberlein's Lab at the University of Washington, Dr. Grillo elucidated the role of protein kinase C in promoting neuroinflammation in mice missing Complex I of the Electron Transport Chain, and probed the etiology of mitochondrial dysfunction in tauopathies and movement disorders. He joined the University of Cincinnati Department of Chemistry (Biochemistry Division) in July 2022 as an Assistant Professor.
Dr. Grillo's background in biochemistry, chemical biology, mitochondrial biology, and metabolic physiology make him excited to uniquely perform interdisciplinary research centered on revealing how mitochondrial dysfunction alters micronutrient metabolism (e.g. metals, branched chain amino acids, oxygen, vitamins, etc.) to elicit neurodegeneration in movement disorders and other neurometabolic diseases. Work in his lab employs diverse in vitro and in vivo models including yeast, primary cell culture, nematodes, or mice.
Dr. Grillo enjoys golfing, fishing, cooking, spending time with family, and watching University of Michigan sports.
email: grilloas [at] uc [dot] edu