• Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari


Tel :+39 06 49933880
Fax :
cecilia.mannironi@uniroma1.it
CECILIA MANNIRONI
Researcher

Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche-DSB
Department of Biology and Biotecnology, Sapienza University of Rome
Via degli Apuli, 4. 00185 Rome, Italy

My main research interest is the characterization of epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression regulation in the nervous system, with a principal focus on the role of non-coding RNAs in homeostatic neuronal behaviors and developmental diseases. My experimental approach ranges from a biochemical characterization of purified macromolecules to their functional analysis in cell systems and animal models.


 Current research activities:

  • Study of the crosstalk between neuronal microRNAs and the CPEB1 RNA binding protein in microRNA biogenesis and transport.
  • Broad gene expression and alternative splicing (AS) profiling of the hippocampus of the BTBR mouse model for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Identified ASD-related circular RNAs are currently characterized in cortical primary neuron differentiation and brain development.
  • Investigation of the role of MeCP2 in alternative splicing regulation:  bioinformatic study for altered gene network identification of Rett syndrome AS profiles by data mining of human and mouse RNAseq data sets; biochemical characterization of the binding of MeCP2 with the splicing regulator PRPF40B in Rett patient-derived human Pluripotent Stem Cells, Neuronal Progenitor cells and neurons.
  • Study of the human histone demethylase KDM5B splicing variant KDM5-NTT in breast cancer.

Selected publications (last 10 years)

  1. Di Nisio, Elena, Valerio Licursi, Cecilia Mannironi, Valentina Buglioni, Alessandro Paiardini, Giulia Robusti, Roberta Noberini, Tiziana Bonaldi, and Rodolfo Negri. "A truncated and catalytically inactive isoform of KDM5B histone demethylase accumulates in breast cancer cells and regulates H3K4 tri-methylation and gene expression." Cancer Gene Therapy (2023): 1-11. https://org/10.1038/s41417-022-00584-w.
  2. Flati, Tiziano, Silvia Gioiosa, Giovanni Chillemi, Andrea Mele, Alberto Oliverio, Cecilia Mannironi, Arianna Rinaldi, and Tiziana Castrignanò. "A gene expression atlas for different kinds of stress in the mouse brain." Scientific Data7, no. 1 (2020): 437. https://org/10.1038/s41597-020-00772-z.
  3. Gasparini, Silvia, Valerio Licursi, Carlo Presutti, and Cecilia Mannironi. "The secret garden of neuronal circRNAs." Cells9, no. 8 (2020): 1815. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9081815.
  4. Gasparini, Silvia, Giorgia Del Vecchio, Silvia Gioiosa, Tiziano Flati, Tiziana Castrignano, Ivano Legnini, Valerio Licursi et al. "Differential expression of hippocampal circular RNAs in the BTBR mouse model for autism spectrum disorder." Molecular Neurobiology57 (2020): 2301-2313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-020-01878-6.
  5. Pippa, Simone, Cecilia Mannironi, Valerio Licursi, Luca Bombardi, Gianni Colotti, Enrico Cundari, Adriano Mollica et al. "Small molecule inhibitors of KDM5 histone demethylases increase the radiosensitivity of breast cancer cells overexpressing JARID1B." Molecules24, no. 9 (2019): 1739. https://org/10.3390/molecules24091739.
  6. Mocavini, Ivano, Simone Pippa, Valerio Licursi, Paola Paci, Daniela Trisciuoglio, Cecilia Mannironi, Carlo Presutti, and Rodolfo Negri. "JARID 1B expression and its function in DNA damage repair are tightly regulated by mi RNA s in breast cancer." Cancer science110, no. 4 (2019): 1232-1243. https://org/10.1111/cas.13925.
  7. Licursi, Valerio, Mariangela Cestelli Guidi, Giorgia Del Vecchio, Cecilia Mannironi, Carlo Presutti, Roberto Amendola, and Rodolfo Negri. "Leptin induction following irradiation is a conserved feature in mammalian epithelial cells and tissues." International Journal of Radiation Biology93, no. 9 (2017): 947-957.https://dorg/10.1080/09553002.2017.1339918
  8. Mannironi, Cecilia, Antonio Biundo, Samyutha Rajendran, Francesca De Vito, Luana Saba, Silvia Caioli, Cristina Zona et al. "miR-135a regulates synaptic transmission and anxiety-like behavior in amygdala." Molecular Neurobiology55 (2018): 3301-3315. https://doi: 10.1007/s12035-017-0564-9
  9. Capitano, F., J. Camon, V. Licursi, V. Ferretti, L. Maggi, M. Scianni, G. Del Vecchio, C. Mannironi, Limatola, C. Presutti, A. Mele A. "MicroRNA-335-5p modulates spatial memory and hippocampal synaptic plasticity."Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 139 (2017): 63-68. https:// doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2016.12.019
  10. Del Vecchio, Giorgia, Francesca De Vito, Sita J. Saunders, Adele Risi, Cecilia Mannironi, Irene Bozzoni, and Carlo Presutti. "RNA-binding protein HuR and the members of the miR-200 family play an unconventional role in the regulation of c-Jun mRNA."Rna 22, no. 10 (2016): 1510-1521.https://doi/10.1261/rna.057588.116.
  11. Hrabě de Angelis, Martin, George Nicholson, Mohammed Selloum, Jacqueline K. White, Hugh Morgan, Ramiro Ramirez-Solis, Tania Sorg, Eumodic Consortium, et al. "Analysis of mammalian gene function through broad-based phenotypic screens across a consortium of mouse clinics."Nature genetics 47, no. 9 (2015): 969-978. https://doi: 10.1038/ng.3360
  12. Capitano, Fabrizio, Jeremy Camon, Valentina Ferretti, Valerio Licursi, Francesca De Vito, Arianna Rinaldi, Sara Vincenti et al. "microRNAs modulate spatial memory in the hippocampus and in the ventral striatum in a region-specific manner."Molecular neurobiology 53 (2016): 4618-4630. https://doi:10.1007/s12035-015-9398-5.
  13. Mannironi, Cecilia, Marco Proietto, Francesca Bufalieri, Enrico Cundari, Angela Alagia, Svetlana Danovska, Teresa Rinaldi et al. "An high-throughput in vivo screening system to select H3K4-specific histone demethylase inhibitors."PLoS One 9, no. 1 (2014): e86002.https://doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086002.s009.
  14. Mannironi, Cecilia, Jeremy Camon, Francesca De Vito, Antonio Biundo, Maria Egle De Stefano, Irene Persiconi, Irene Bozzoni, Paola Fragapane, Andrea Mele, and Carlo Presutti. "Acute stress alters amygdala microRNA miR-135a and miR-124 expression: inferences for corticosteroid dependent stress response."PloS one 8, no. 9 (2013): e73385. https://doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073385.

Carlo Presutti, Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "C.Darwin",  Sapienza Università di Roma
Rodolfo Negri, Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "C.Darwin",  Sapienza Università di Roma
Valerio Licursi, IBPM-CNR, Roma
Arianna Rinaldi, Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie "C.Darwin",  Sapienza Università di Roma
Pascale Legault, Département de Biochimie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Canada
Tiziana Castrignanò, Dipartimento di Ecologia e Biologia, Università' della Tuscia, Viterbo
Silvia Gioiosa, SCAI-Super Computing Applications and Innovation Department, CINECA, Roma

Cecilia Mannironi, Ph.D.
Via degli Apuli, 4 
Roma, 00185
Tel: +39-06-4457526/49917912
Indirizzo e-mail: cecilia.mannironi@uniroma1.it
 
Academic Qualifications
1987 Ph.D. in Pharmacological Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milano, Italy
1983 Biological Science Degree, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Pisa, Italy. 

Positions

1981-1983 Undergraduate student, Istituto di Mutagenesi e Differenziamento,   Laboratorio di Enzimologia, Supervisor: Prof. C.Bauer, CNR, Pisa.

1983-1984 Visiting research fellow, Istituto di Genetica, University of Pisa.

1984-1987 Ph.D. student, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan. Laboratory of In vitro Cancer Chemotherapy, Tutor: Maurizio D’Incalci.

1987-1988 Postdoctoral research fellow, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research. Milan, Laboratory of In vitro Cancer Chemotherapy.

1988-1991 Postdoctoral research fellow, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Laboratory of Dr. William Bonner.

1991-2013 Senior Researcher, Istituto di Biologia Cellulare, CNR, Roma.

2013-        Researcher, Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari, CNR, Roma.

Teaching Appointments

2006-2009 Teaching Assistant, Course “Molecular Neurobiology”, Master Degree in Neurobiology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

2009-2017 Contract Professor, Course “Molecular Neurobiology”, Master Degree in Neurobiology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

2017-2019 Contract Professor, Course “Molecular Neurobiology 1” (advanced course in Molecular Neurobiology), Master Degree in Neurobiology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Supervisor of undergraduate /master/PhD students, University of Rome
Seminars and laboratory teaching for High School students

Scientific Appointments

Member of the Eumodic European Consortium for mouse functional genomics and phenotyping (http://www.eumodic.org) built on the work in the EUMORPHIA project funded by the European Commission under the Framework 6 (Programme contract number LSHG-CT-2006-037188).
Member of the “Società Italiana di Biofisica e Biologia Molecolare” (SIBBM).
Member of the “European Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society’ (EEMCCS). 
Guest Editor for International Journal of Molecular Sciences, special Issue “miRNA-Mediated Post-transcriptional Regulation in the Nervous System”. 
Review Editor of Frontiers Computational Genomics and Frontiers Molecular and Cellular Oncology.
Peer Reviewer for international journals (Scientific Reports, Biological Chemistry, Cell Communication and Signaling, …).
Peer Reviewer for the The Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, Grants “Futuro in Ricerca” 2013.
Member of REPRISE (Register of Expert Peer Reviewers for Italian Scientific Evaluation).

Grants and Fellowships

Telethon-Cariplo Alliance Grant, Principal Investigator, 2023-2025
Cineca, Grant Elixir-IIB HPC@CINECA, Principal Investigator, 2020
Cineca, Grant Elixir-IIB HPC@CINECA, Principal Investigator, 2018
Short Term Mobility Program, grant from CNR for international collaboration, University of Montreal, Canada, 2018.

Partecipant to European Grants: LIFE2020-Regione Lazio - REG LAZIO; EUMODIC (The European MOuse DIsease Clinic), 2007; EURASNET (European alternative splicing network of excellence),
2006; EUCOMM (The European Mouse Genome Mutagenesis Program), 2006; MUGEN (Integrated functional genomics in mutant mouse models as tools to
investigate the complexity of human immunological disease), 2005.

Fogarty Institution, Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1989-1991
European Social Fund, Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1988-1989
Mario Negri Institute, Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship “L. Morasca”, 1987-1988
Mario Negri Institute, Individual Graduate Fellowship, 1984-1987
Camera di Commercio di Pisa, Award for experimental thesis, 1983