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Molecular Pathology Lab. "PaoLa"
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Epigenetics
Conrad H. Waddington introduced the term "epigenetic", in the 40s, to explain the interactions between the environment and the genome that contribute to the production of phenotype. Numerous definitions of "epigenetics" have accumulate over the year an one is "the study of chromatin modifications, solicited by environmental and nutritional factors, that promote changes of genome functions (e.g. gene expression) without altering the DNA sequence". So, in other words "what makes homozygous twins different". What's epigenetics?
The scientists discovered that epigenetic features contribute to regulate the normal cellular activities but, when altered, could also partecipate to cellular transformation by inducing both genes expression re-modulation and genome destabilization.
Our research activity is focused to study the epigenomic profiles of cancer cells in order to dissect the epigenetic features responsible of different biological properties (e.g. cellular transformation, tumor progression, therapeutic refractoriness).
We are also involved in the development of new experimental strategies useful to study the epigenetic features of complex biological models (e.g PAT-ChIP).
In collaboration with the group of research directed by Prof. Marco Giorgio (University of Padova and European Institute of Oncology -Milan - Italy):
- characterization of new molecules able to interfere with the chromatin structure and thus inducing biological responses in tumor cellular models.
- study how cellular dysfunctions accumulate with time and how such events promote aging and associated diseases, such as cancer and neurodegeneration.
A modified version of the Waddington’s Epigenetic Landscape
Epigenetic analyses in different biological models
from FFPE samples to single cells suspension
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