Alessandro was born in Terni (Italy). He received his Master’s Degree and Pharm.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the University of Camerino (Italy) in 2010. He continued as a Ph.D. candidate in Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Camerino (School of Advanced Studies) – Medicinal Chemistry Unit, under the mentorship of Prof. Wilma Quaglia, focusing his research efforts on the design, synthesis, and pharmacological characterization of 1,4-dioxane ligands interacting with different receptor systems.

During his Ph.D. studies, he conducted research as pre-doctoral Visiting Fellow at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in Baltimore in the laboratory of Dr. A. H. Newman, and at the Westfålische Wilhelms-Universitåt in Münster (University of Münster, Germany) in the laboratories of Professors B. Wünsch and D. Schepmann. Alessandro received his Ph.D. in March 2014, and he joined the NIH-NIDA Medicinal Chemistry Section, as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Amy H. Newman.

In 2019 he was appointed Research Fellow, and in January 2022 was promoted to Staff Scientist. In August 2024, he has been recruited as Tenure-Track Associate Professor at UTMB, in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and the Center for Addiction Sciences and Therapeutics. Alessandro serves as a faculty member of the Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Alessandro is also a faculty member of the Gulf Coast Consortium for Mental Health Research and John S. Dunn Gulf Coast Consortium for Innovative Drug Discovery and Development.  

• M.S. and Pharm.D., Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, 2010, Università degli Studi di Camerino, Camerino (MC), Italy 
• Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2014, Università degli Studi di Camerino, Camerino (MC), Italy 
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2014-2019, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA-IRP), Baltimore (MD), USA 

Alexander Knieb received his B.Sc. in Chemistry in 2018 from the University of Münster, Germany, where he conducted undergraduate research under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Fabian Dielmann on electron-rich bipyridines for the activation of small molecules. In the fall of 2020, he began his Ph.D. studies at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute at the University of Southern California under George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair Prof. G. K. Surya Prakash. His doctoral research centered around the development of novel fluoroalkylation methodologies and design of synthetic routes for accessing small molecules of pharmaceutical interest. In April 2025, he joined our group at UTMB as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and the Center for Addiction Sciences and Therapeutics. His current work focuses on the development of novel therapeutics designed to selectively target and activate G protein-coupled dopamine receptors D2R and D3R. 

Cadell Green is a graduate student in the Pharmacology and Toxicology program at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), conducting research under the mentorship of Dr. Alessandro Bonifazi. His work focuses on neuropharmacology and preclinical drug discovery, with particular emphasis on orexin receptor modulators, and the characterization of novel therapeutic compounds. He has completed comprehensive training in BSL-2 laboratory biosafety, chemical handling, and radiation safety, supporting interdisciplinary projects in medicinal chemistry and pharmacological assay development. With a background bridging public health and basic medical sciences, Cadell is committed to advancing neuroscience research aimed at understanding central nervous system disorders and identifying innovative therapeutic strategies. 

Hawau Abdulsalam earned her bachelor’s degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2018, graduating with a double major in chemistry (biological chemistry focus) and biology (health and medical sciences concentration). As an undergraduate, she conducted research under Dr. Craig P. Jasperse, developing antipyrine analogs as potential therapeutics for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Following graduation, she joined Helena Laboratories as a research associate, where she developed agarose gel electrophoretic methods for analyzing serum proteins and isoenzymes used in clinical diagnostics. In 2020, she began her Ph.D. in Organic (Medicinal) Chemistry at Wayne State University under Carl Johnson Endowed Chair Professor Hien M. Nguyen. Her doctoral research combined computational, synthetic, and biological approaches to the design, synthesis, and evaluation of heparan sulfate mimetics for their potential to inhibit cancer progression, including tumor growth and metastasis, as well as SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In October 2025, she joined the Bonifazi Lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch as a postdoctoral fellow, where she is working on the biological evaluation of neurotherapeutics and the development of small-molecule agonists that selectively target orexin 1 receptors.

Federica Matteucci is a visiting PhD student at UTMB from the University of Camerino (Italy). She has been an intern in the laboratory of prof. Chris Meier at the University of Hamburg (Germany) in September 2020 and in the laboratory of prof. Serge Van Calenbergh at the University of Ghent (Belgium) from October 2021 to February 2022. She graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the University of Camerino in 2022 with an experimental thesis entitled “Synthesis of novel purine-based nucleosides as CD73 inhibitors for potential cancer immunotherapeutics”. Currently she is a PhD student in Medicinal Chemistry at Chemistry Interdisciplinary Project (ChIP) of the University of Camerino (Italy), in the laboratories of prof. Riccardo Petrelli and prof. Fabio Del Bello. In July 2023, Federica obtained her Second Level Master’s Degree at the Scuola di Studi Superiori “Carlo Urbani” of the University of Camerino, with an experimental thesis entitled “Conformationally restricted NAD-mimics as discriminant inhibitors of Human NMN-Adenylyltransferase isozymes: synthesis and biological evaluation”. During her period spent at UTMB, Federica is focusing on a Medicinal Chemistry research project on the synthesis and biological evaluation of new dopamine D4 receptor antagonists, under the supervision of prof. Alessandro Bonifazi.