Department of Theology and Religious Studies

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Luca Settimo

Honorary Post-doctoral Fellow (Theology),

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Biography

I am a theologian and a scientist.

I have in fact a background as a scientist in pharmaceutical sciences and clinical research - in particular, my work in this field led to the publication of several scientific articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, a scientific monograph (my PhD thesis in Structural Bioinformatics and Computational Chemistry), and different patents.

Given my interest in the dialogue between Science and Theology (an interest which was born some years ago while I participated to some student activities on this subject organised by the University of Oxford), I decided to study Theology, and in July 2019 I obtained a MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology from the University of Nottingham (with distinction). In order to have a strong influence in the dialogue between Science and Theology, following my dissertation in this field, in October 2019 I started to study for a PhD in Theology at the University of Nottingham. In 2022 I successfully completed my doctoral studies in Theology and in December 2022 I was also conferred the title of Honorary Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. I also studied biblical theology and learnt to use historical-critical methods to analyse biblical texts.

Research Summary

I completed my doctorate in Theology in 2022. In my doctoral dissertation I studied different writings of Hans Jonas (a famous Jewish philosopher) and demonstrated that his contributions could enrich… read more

Recent Publications

Articles in peer-reviewed journals or book chapters in the field of Theology - including accepted publications.

Settimo L. "Hans Jonas's reflections on the human soul and the notion of imago Dei: an explanation of their role in ethics and some possible historical influences on their development." History of European Ideas 49, 5 (2023), 870-884. Available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01916599.2022.2164600

Settimo, L. Greenwood, A. and Crawford, P. (2022), Moral Health and Pharmacy, Published as (blog) article by the Institute of Mental Health:

https://www.institutemh.org.uk/news/blog/moral-health-and-pharmacy (21 December 2022).

Settimo L. Book chapter entitled "Hans Jonas's contributions to Rudolph Bultmann's demythologization." To be published in: Hans Jonas: The Early Years. Daniel M. Herskowitz and Elad Lapidot (Eds.) Publisher: Routledge.

Settimo L. (the Journal for the History of Modern Theology) "The philosophical-theological notion of Gegenwart: its adoption by Hans Jonas and its historical development." In press.

Settimo L. (accepted for publication in the Reviews in Science and Religion) "Freedom in creation: some theological implications deriving from the study of emergent structures in the natural world"

Written and Oral Communications in the field of Theology

Settimo L. (2023) "Commonly prescribed medications can affect the moral behaviour of patients: the importance of re-discovering the notion of 'moral health.'" Seminar delivered at the 11th International Health Humanities Conference - History and Practice of Human Care (21-23 Sep 2023), University of Derby.

Settimo L. (2023) "The use of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) in human and non-human beings: philosophical-theological implications for morality." Seminar delivered at the Science and Religion Forum (SRF) conference - Humans & Other Animals (31 Aug - 2 Sep 2023), Westminster College, University of Cambridge.

Settimo L. (2022), 'On the differences between Franciscan and Dominican theology in relation to Mt 25:35-40 and human suffering.' Seminar delivered during the Early Career Conference in Catholic Theology and Catholic Studies 2022 (13 June 2022) organised by the Centre of Catholic Studies, Durham University.

Settimo L. (2022), 'Freedom in creation: some theological implications deriving from the study of emergent structures in the natural world.' Seminar delivered on May 27th during the Science and Religion Forum (SRF) 2022 conference - Woodbrooke Study Centre, Birmingham (after being invited to deliver a seminar as top-runner for the Peacocke Prize - in memory of Revd Dr Arthur Peacocke).

Settimo L. (2022), 'The Key Contributions of Hans Jonas to the Birth of Demythologisation Within Religious Discourse,' seminar delivered on 22 April 2022 during the residential conference for the distance learning students in Theology at the University of Nottingham.

Settimo L. (2021) Response to the paper of Prof. Celia Deane Drummond ['Theology and the Evolution of Violence: Are we Wired for War or Peace?' (Firth Lecture 2021)]. Delivered online via Microsoft Teams to all the audience of the Department of Theology and Religious study at the University of Nottingham in occasion of the conference for distance learning students in Theology at the University of Nottingham (8-9 April 2021).

Settimo L. (2019) 'La visione di Hans Jonas sulla evoluzione biologica e sul progresso scientifico' (Hans Jonas's view on biological evolution and scientific progress). Seminar delivered at the XI Workshop SISRI (Scuola Internazionale Superiore per la Ricerca Interdisciplinare) organized by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome (18-19 Maggio 2019).

Settimo L. (2015) 'Una lettera da Oxford (a letter from Oxford - a theological reflection)' published in the portal "Documentazione Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede" Accessed 18 March 2019, http://disf.org/editoriali/2015-11/.

Settimo L.(2015) 'Il ruolo della testimonianza nel pensiero scientifico e religioso.' Seminar delivered at the VIII Workshop SISRI (Scuola Internazionale Superiore per la Ricerca Interdisciplinare) organized by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome (30-31 Maggio 2015).

Settimo L. (2015) 'The value of testimony in the scientific and religious belief.' Seminar delivered at Grandpont House (an academic venue in Oxford) on February 14th 2015.

Translation work: Tanzella-Nitti, G. (2013), "God, Natural knowledge of," INTERS - Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science, edited by G. Tanzella-Nitti, I. Colagé and A. Strumia. http://inters.org/God-natural-knowledge/. Text translated from Italian to English by Settimo L. (Original text: G. Tanzella-Nitti, La dinamica di fede e ragione nella conoscenza naturale di Dio, P. Larrey (ed.), "Per una filosofia del Senso Comune. Studi in onore di Antonio Livi", Italianova, Milano 2009, 111-127).

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Articles in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences published in peer-reviewed international scientific journals

Alghamdi A., Munday J.C., Campagnaro G.D., Gurvic D., Svensson F., Okpara C.E., Kumar A., Quintana J., Martin Abril M.E., Milić P., Watson L., Paape D., Settimo L., Dimitriou A., Wielinska J., Smart G., Anderson L.F., Woodley C.M., Kelly S.P.Y., Ibrahim H.M., Hulpia F., Al-Salabi M.I., Eze A.A., Teka I.A., Gudin S., Field M., Dardonville C., Tidwell R.R., Carrington M., O'Neill P., Boykin D.W., Zachariae U., De Koning H.P. (2020) Positively selected modifications in the pore of TbAQP2 allow pentamidine to enter Trypanosoma brucei. Elife. 2020.

Collier P.N., Twin, H.C., Knegtel R.M.A., Boyall D., Brenchley G., Davis C.J., Keily S., Mak C., Miller A., Pierard F., Settimo L., Bolton C.M., Chiu P., Curnock, A., Doyle E. Tanner A.J., Jimenez J.M. (2019) Discovery of Selective, Orally Bioavailable Pyrazolopyridine Inhibitors of Protein Kinase Cθ (PKCθ) That Ameliorate Symptoms of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 10, 1134-1139.

Settimo, L., Taylor, D. (2018) Evaluating the dose-dependent mechanism of action of trazodone by estimation of occupancies for different brain neurotransmitter targets. J. Psycopharm. 32, 96-104

Imamura H., Downing T., Van den Broeck F., Sanders M.J., Rijal S., Sundar S., Mannaert A., Vanaerschot M., Berg M., De Muylder G., Dumetz F., Cuypers B., Maes I., Domagalska M., Decuypere S., Rai K., Uranw S., Bhattarai N.R., Khanal B., Prajapati V.K., Sharma S., Stark O., Schönian G., De Koning H.P., Settimo L., Vanhollebeke B., Roy S., Ostyn B., Boelaert M., Maes L., Berriman M., Dujardin J.C., Cotton J.A. (2016) Evolutionary genomics of epidemic visceral leishmaniasis in the Indian subcontinent. Elife, e12613

Munday, J.C, Tagoe, D.N.A, Eze1, A.A., Krezdorn, J.A.M., López, K.E.R. Alkhaldi, A.A.M, McDonald, F., Still, J., Alzahrani, K.J., Settimo, L., De Koning, H.P (2015) Functional analysis of drug resistance-associated mutations in the Trypanosoma brucei adenosine transporter 1 (TbAT1) and the proposal of a structural model for the protein. Mol Microbiol. 96, 887-900

Munday, J.C., Settimo, L., and de Koning, H.P. (2015) Transport proteins determine drug sensitivity and resistance in a protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei Front Pharmacol. 6, 32.

Ochiana, S., Bland N., Settimo, L., Campbell, RK, Pollastri.M. (2014) Repurposing Human PDE4 Inhibitors for Neglected Tropical Diseases. Evaluation of Analogs of the Human PDE4 Inhibitor GSK-256066 as Inhibitors of PDEB1 of Trypanosoma brucei. Chem Biol Drug Des. 85, 594-564

Amata, E., Bland, N., Hoyt, C., Settimo, L., Campbell, R., Pollastri, M. (2014) Repurposing human PDE4 inhibitors for neglected tropical diseases: Design, synthesis and evaluation of cilomilast analogues as Trypanosoma brucei PDEB1 inhibitors. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 24, 4084-9

Settimo, L., Bellman, K., Knegtel, R. (2014) Comparison of the Accuracy of Experimental and Predicted pKa Values of Basic and Acidic Compounds, Pharmaceutical Research. 31, 1082-1095

Jimenez, J.M., Boyall, D., Brenchley, G., Collier, P.N., Davis, C.J., Fraysse, D., Keily, S.B., Henderson, J., Miller, A., Pierard, F., Settimo, L., Twin, H.C., Bolton, C.M., Curnock, A.P., Chiu, P., Tanner, A.J., Young, S. (2013) Design and Optimization of Selective Protein Kinase C θ (PKCθ) Inhibitors for the Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases. J Med Chem. 56, 1799-1810

Jimenez, J.M., Davis C., Boyall D., Fraysse D., Knegtel R., Settimo, L., Young S., Bolton C., Chiu P., Curnock A., Rasmussen R., Tanner A., Ager I. (2012) Structure-based optimization of aminopyridines as PKCθ inhibitors. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 22, 4645-9.

Settimo, L., Donnini, S., Juffer, A.H., Woody, R.W., Marin O. (2007) Conformational changes upon calcium binding and phosphorylation in a synthetic fragment of calmodulin

Biopolymers (Peptide Science). 88, 373-85

Sanders J.M., Pentikäinen O.T., Settimo L., Pentikäinen U., Shoji M., Sasaki M., Sakai R., Johnson M.S., Swanson G.T. (2006) Determination of binding site residues responsible for the subunit selectivity of novel marine-derived compounds on kainate receptors. Mol Pharmacol. 69, 1849-60.

Pentikäinen, U.*, Settimo, L.*, Johnson, M.S., Pentikäinen, O.T. (2006) Subtype selectivity and flexibility of ionotropic Glutamate Receptors upon antagonist ligand binding, Org Biomol Chem, 4,1058-70. (* equal contribution to the work).

Bauce, B., Basso, C., Rampazzo, A., Beffagna, G., Daliento, L., Frigo, G., Malacrida, S., Settimo, L., Danieli, G., Thiene, G., Nava, A. (2005) Clinical profile of four families with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy caused by dominant desmoplakin mutations. Eur Heart J, 26, 1666-75.

Sanders, J.M., Ito, K., Settimo, L., Pentikäinen, O.T., Shoji, M., Sasaki, M., Johnson, M.S., Sakai, R., Swanson, G.T. (2005) Divergent pharmacological activity of novel marine-derived excitatory amino acids on glutamate receptors. J Pharmacol Exp Ther, 314, 1068-78.

Bagattin, A., Veronese, C., Bauce, B., Wuyts, W., Settimo, L., Nava, A., Rampazzo, A., Danieli, G.A. (2004) Denaturing HPLC-based approach for detecting RYR2 mutations involved in malignant arrhythmias. Clin Chem, 50, 1148-55.

Arrigoni, G., Marin, O., Pagano, M.A., Settimo, L., Paolin, B., Meggio, F., Pinna, L.A. (2004) Phosphorylation of calmodulin fragments by protein kinase CK2. Mechanistic aspects and structural consequences. Biochemistry, 43, 12788-98.

Moretti, L.*, Pentikäinen, O.T.*, Settimo, L., Johnson, M.S. (2004) Model structures of the N- methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunit NR1 explain the molecular recognition of agonist and antagonist ligands. J Struct Biol, 145, 205-15 (* equal contribution to the work).

Pentikäinen, O.T., Settimo, L., Keinänen, K., Johnson, M.S. (2003) Selective agonist binding of (S)- 2-amino-3-(3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolyl)propionic acid (AMPA) and 2S-(2alpha,3beta,4beta)-2- carboxy-4-(1-methylethenyl)-3-pyrrolidineacetic acid (kainate) receptors: a molecular modeling study. Biochem Pharmacol, 66, 2413-25.

Jouppila, A., Pentikäinen, O.T., Settimo, L., Nyrönen, T., Haapalahti, J.P., Lampinen, M., Mottershead, D.G., Johnson, M.S., Keinänen, K. (2002) Determinants of antagonist binding at the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor subunit, GluR-D. Role of the conserved arginine 507 and glutamate 727 residues. Eur J Biochem. 269,6261-70.

Lampinen, M., Settimo, L., Pentikäinen, O.T., Jouppila, A., Mottershead, D.G., Johnson, M.S., Keinänen, K. (2002) Discrimination between agonists and antagonists by the alpha-amino-3- hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid -selective glutamate receptor. A mutation analysis of the ligand-binding domain of GluR-D subunit. J Biol Chem, 277, 41940-7.

Scientific Monographs (Ph.D Thesis in Biochemistry)

Settimo, L. (2005) Structural basis for ligand recognition in the ionotropic glutamate receptors. ISBN 952-12-1562-3

Patents (in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Boyall, D. Davis, C., Dodd, J., Everitt, S. Miller, A., Weber, P., Westcott, J., Young, S., Settimo, L. Compounds useful as inhibithors of indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Nov 10, 2013, CA2891412A1, WO/2014/081689.

Jimenez, J.M., Settimo, L. Pyrazolopyrazine kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Aug, 4 2011, WO 2011/094288 and WO 2011/094290

Jimenez, J.M., Fraysse, D., Settimo, L., Brenchley, G., Boyall, D. Tri-cyclic pyrazolopyridine kinase inhibithors Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Jun, 8 2011, EP2328896

Jimenez, J.M., Knegtel, R., Brenchley, G., Boyall, D., Settimo, L., Fraysse, D. Pyrazolopyrdine kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, May, 18 2011, EP2321318

Jimenez, J.M., Fraysse, D., Settimo L., Brenchley, G., Boyall D. Pyrazolopyrdine kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, May, 11 2011, EP2318407

Jimenez, J.M., Studley, J., Chris, D., Settimo, L., Collier, P., Fraysse, D., Knegtel, R., Boyall, D, Brenchley, G, Miller, A, Twin, H, Young, S, Tri-cyclic pyrazolopyridine kinase inhibithors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, May, 11 2011, EP2318408

Francois, M., Bemis, G.W., Tiansheng, W., Jimenez, J.M., Settimo, L., Boyall, D., Fraysse, D, Young, S, Chris, D. Aminopyridine kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Apr, 27 2011, EP2313372

Jimenez, J.M., Bemis, G.W., Maltasi, F., Tiansheng, W., Knegtel, R., Davis, C., Fraysse, D., Boyall, D., Settimo, L., Young, S., Mortimore, M., Kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Mar, 31 2011, US 20110077237

Jimenez, J.M., Knegtel, R., Chris, D., Mortimore, M., Bemis, G.W., Francois, M., Settimo L, Fraysse, D, Young, S, Boyall, D, Tiansheng, W. 2-aminopyridine derivatives useful as kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Mar, 3 2010, CN 200880009618

Jimenez, J.M., Mortimore, M., Miller A., Collier, P., Young, S., Brenchley, G., Davis, C., Twin, H., Mak, C., Boyall, D., Keily, S., Settimo, L. Kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Nov, 26 2009, US 20090291937

Jimenez, J.M., Bemis, G., Francois, M., Tiansheng, W., Knegtel, R., Chris, D., Fraysse, D., Boyall, D., Settimo, L., Young, S., Mortimore, M. 2-aminopyridine derivatives useful as kinase inhibitors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Aug, 7 2008, WO 2008/094992

Current Research

I completed my doctorate in Theology in 2022. In my doctoral dissertation I studied different writings of Hans Jonas (a famous Jewish philosopher) and demonstrated that his contributions could enrich Christian theology in its dialogue with modern natural sciences. In particular, in my doctoral research I have focused on Jonas's theological contributions concerning cosmogony, theodicy and his proof of God's existence. I am in the process of publishing a book deriving from my doctoral dissertation in theology and I am also writing some articles engaging with different philosophical-theological reflections published by Jonas.

I am also interested in existential and biblical theology and in the application of historical-critical methods for the study and the analysis of biblical texts.

Future Research

I have different future aspirations.

I would like to work in the field of Science and Theology. In particular, I am interested in theological engagement with the latest scientific research on psychiatry and neuropsychopharmacology: e.g. studying how psychotropic medications can affect moral decisions and/or spiritual/religious experiences.

I am also interested to work in the field of biblical theology and on the historical criticism of the Bible. As a Christian theologian I believe it is important to engage with biblical Judaism since I am convinced that Hebraic thought could enrich Christian theology.

Department of Theology and Religious Studies

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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