Massimo Alessio received his PhD in “Human Biology” at the University of Turin, Italy with training at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and at the American Red Cross in Rockville, MD. In 1993 he obtained a researcher position at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, where in 2000 he started his own laboratory. Dr. Alessio is head of the Proteome Biochemistry Unit, where the research interests of his laboratory include large scale protein analysis for the identification of disease markers in neurology and oncology and the characterization of the pathological mechanisms related to the identified biomarkers. His attention is now directed to study protein modifications induced by the pathological milieu in the cerebrospinal fluid of neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Amitrophyc Lateral Sclerosis), in particular the oxidative modifications occurring to the ceruloplasmin ferroxidase, an enzyme that plays a critical role in iron-metabolism in Parkinson’s disease.