Major research interests: Design and synthesis of antimicrobial, analgesic, and antitumor agents. Development of new methodology for the synthesis of new biologically active nitrogen heterocycles. Strycture activity relationship studies. Collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (USA) for the in vitro and in vivo evaluation of anticancer activity of new potential antitumor agents.

Assistent professor of medicinal chemistry at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Cagliari. He obtained his "laurea" in Pharmacy from the University of Cagliari in 1974. 1981 Assistent professor in Organic Chemistry. 1999 Assistent professor in Medicinal Chemistry. 1989 professor in Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Toxicology 1999 professor of Toxicological Chemistry in the School of Environment, Food and Drug Toxicology 2003 professor of Analytical and Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy.

M. T.Cocco, C. Congiu, V.Onnis - New bis(pyridyl)methane derivatives from 4-hydroxy-2-pyridones: synthesis and antitumoral activity Eur. J. Med. Chem., 38, 37-47 (2003)
M. T.Cocco, C. Congiu, V. Lilliu, V.Onnis - Synthesis of new N-(2-(trifluoromethyl)pyridin-4-yl)anthranilic acid derivatives and their evaluation as anticancer agents. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 14, 5787-5791 (2004)
M. T.Cocco, C. Congiu, V. Lilliu, V.Onnis - Synthesis and antiproliferative activity of 2,6-Dibenzylamino-3,5-dicyanopyridines on human cancer cell lines Eur. J. Med. Chem., 40, 1365-1372 (2005)
C. Congiu, M. T.Cocco, V. Lilliu, V.Onnis - New Potential Anticancer Agents Based on the Anthranilic Acid Scaffold. Synthesis and Evaluation of Biological Activity J. Med. Chem. 48, 8245-8252 (2005)
M. T.Cocco, C. Congiu, V. Lilliu, V.Onnis - Synthesis and In Vitro Antitumoral Activity of New Hydrazinopyrimidine-5-carbonitrile Derivatives. Bioorg. Med. Chem., 14, 366-372 (2006)
G. Balboni, V. Onnis, C. Congiu, M. Zotti, Y. Sasaki, A. Ambo, S. D. Bryant, Y. Jinsmaa, L. H. Lazarus, C. Trapella, S, Salvadori - Effect of Lysine at C-Terminus of the Dmt-Tic Pharmacophore. J. Med. Chem., 49, 5610-5617 (2006)
M. T.Cocco, C. Congiu, V. Lilliu, V.Onnis - Synthesis and in vitro antitumoral activity of new 3,5-dicyanopyridine derivatives Bioorg. Med. Chem., 15, 1859-1867 (2007)
Balboni G, Onnis V, Congiu C, Zotti M, Sasaki Y, Ambo A, Bryant SD, Jinsmaa Y, Lazarus LH, Lazzari I, Trapella C, Salvadori S. - Further studies on the effect of lysine at the C-terminus of the Dmt-Tic opioid pharmacophore. Bioorg Med Chem. 15, 3143-3151 (2007)
Onnis V, Cocco MT, Lilliu V, Congiu C. - Synthesis and evaluation of antitumoral activity of ester and amide derivatives of 2-arylamino-6-trifluoromethyl-3-pyridinecarboxylic acids. Bioorg Med Chem. 2007 Nov 29 (Pub Med, Medline, Epub ahad of print)
Congiu C, Cocco MT, Onnis V. - Design, synthesis, and in vitro antitumor activity of new 1,4-diarylimidazole-2-ones and their 2-thione analogues. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 18, 989-993 (2008)