Prof.ssa Tina Crippa Franceschi (1925 - 1992)
Tina Crippa
Franceschi is to be considered, in every respect, a pioneer and a
promoter of Italia Protozoology. After graduating in Natural Science at
the University of Genoa (Italy), her interest was almost entirely
devoted to ciliates which were not widely investigated in Italy at that
time. She acquired the fundamental bases of these studies at Prof.
Geoffrey H. Beale’s lab, Institute of Animal Genetics, Edinburgh,
during her stay in 1955 and in the following years. Coming back to
Italy, she shared her experience with students and focused their
attention on protozoological research. So, she created the lab in Genoa
and convincingly managed it, all the time with a lively enthusiasm. The
high interest which inspired her activity suggested to her the idea of
founding a scientific society to promote protozoological studies in
Italy. She discussed the project with Prof. Renzo Nobili after the 2nd
International Congress of Protozoology, London, 1965, and in the same
year, the Italian Society of Protozoology was thus established. She was
a member of its Management Committee, and, until 1979, of the
International Commission of Protozoology. Her earliest
research experience were made on Colpoda.
She considered the phenomenon of chromatin extrusion as a process that
play san important role in macronuclear DNA regulation and is involved
in the late occurrence of senescence observed in this genus, as well as,
in possible rejuvenescence of aged lines found after their long-term
resting encystment. The study of “Dauermodifikationen” intrigue Tina
Crippa Franceschi for many years and was a fundamental step in her
scientific activity.
At the
symposium on Genetics and Physiology of Ciliates in Shelter Island, New
Your, 1966, she proposed her conclusion about the cytoplasmic hereditary
basis of these acquired long-lasting change.
The
inspiring concept to her research was the belief that cell models of
ciliates respond to general principle ruling all living organisms and,
therefore, that they can provide a reading key that renders the basis of
phenomena observed as common or peculiar in more complex organisms
understandable. From this point of view she approached the study of
sexual differentiation, a fascinating topic in which she had lately
benne strongly engaged. After proving the relationship between cell
lines’ growth rate and mating type expression in Paramecium
primaurelia, she transferred the Paramecium
pattern of mating type differentiation to that of sexual
differentiation in embryo development of vertebrates. She suggested that
different growth rates of human male and female cell lines are related
to her finding of different total amount in the constitutive
heterochromatin of their karyotypes. Moreover, she supported that
“cell lines’ growth rate and phenotype expression” had a certain
significance also in the development of human illnesses linked to
chromosomic aberrations.
|
|