15/12/2020In this study we characterised the role of the Aurora-A kinase and its major regulator TPX2 in the control of mitotic spindle orientation in mammalian cells, a process which determines the position and fate of daughter cells. We highlighted a key role of TPX2 in the Aurora-A-mediated regulation of the orientation complex protein NuMA. We also describe opposite, microtubule-dependent, effects following increased Aurora-A or TPX2 levels in non-transformed cells, yielding-respectively- misoriented or “superaligned” spindles. Since high levels of Aurora-A and TPX2 are frequently observed in tumors, this study provides novel information to understand their pro-tumorigenic functions. It also opens the way to the investigation of the roles of the two proteins in other pathological contexts, particularly developmental or neurological disorders associated to defective cell division orientation.
Work was collaboratively carried out by groups at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology (IBPM) and at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO). Research groups at Sapienza University and at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (Dortmund, DE) participated to the project.
IBPM reference person: Giulia Guarguaglini
17/8/2020
Link at https://rdcu.be/b6jAd
www.immunophenotype.org
twitter: immunosurveillance@TheCrick
This study identified a “core” immune signature in the peripheral blood of COVID-19 patients. Blood T cells were typically characterized by co-existing lymphopenia and highly activated/proliferative phenotype, especially in severe patients. Some signature traits, including basophil and plasmacytoid dendritic cell depletion, and T cell-cycling, correlated with disease severity. Notably, a triad of molecules — IP-10, interleukin-10 and interleukin-6— anticipated disease worsening.
The study, called COVID-IP, was led by prof. Adrian Hayday (Francis Crick Institute, King’s College London, London, UK). A cohort of 63 hospitalized COVID-19 patients at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals (London, UK) was studied. Dr. Francesca Di Rosa (Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, CNR, Rome, Italy) was a member of the international team. She contributed to the novelty by introducing the innovative T cell assay for cell cycle analysis, that was used for the first time in COVID-19 patients in this study.
13/7/2020
The identification in living cells of the protein FUS, crucially involved in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), as a direct interactor of HOTAIRM1 in motoneurons, together with the presence of a cytoplasmic isoform of HOTAIRM1 in motoneuron soma and neurites (yellow arrows), open the way for investigating a possible implication of this noncoding transcript in neurodegeneration.

IBPM reference researchers: Pietro Laneve and Elisa Caffarelli
6/12/2019
IBPM at the Book Exhibition "Più libri più liberi": event on the DNA - WATCH THE VIDEO
Documents: PLPL_2019_PROGRAMMA_CNR.pdf
07/11/2019
In the school-work alternation project led by Maura Cardarelli and Patrizia Brunetti at IBPM, students of the Pascal High School train to use "green" technologies based on plant molecular biology to decontaminate soil from arsenic

Source: Rassegna Stampa CNR
08/10/2019
The 2019 Nobel prize to Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the ability of cells to adapt to oxygen levels
Comment by Alessandro Giuffrè

23/07/2019
Astrobiology. ASI, the Italian Space Agency, supports the project "LIFE IN SPACE", including the IBPM Unit coordinated by Giovanna Costanzo. On PLATINUM https://platinum-online.com/, the new magazine distributed by Il Sole 24 ore

10/07/2019
Documents: Meeting with delegation from Ikiam University.pdf
Meet in Italy for Life Sciences 2019
28/03/2019

This study highlights a novel role of the metabolic enzyme serine hydroxymethyl transferase (SHMT), in supporting the high proliferative capacity of cancer cells.


https://academic.oup.com/nar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nar/gkz129/5365575
12/03/2019
13/02/2019
16/01/2019
During mitotic division genomic DNA is equally partitioned between the daughter cells, and several cellular machineries are reorganized to ensure faithful chromosome segregation. For example, cellular processes such as transcription and mRNA processing (“splicing”) are shut down during mitosis. The work by Pellacani et al. shows that two splicing factors, Sf3A2 e Prp31, are not inactive during mitosis but directly mediate proper kinetochore- microtubule interactions. These findings open the way to future research aimed at identifying new “moonlighting proteins” involved in both nuclear processes occurring during interphase and regulation of mitosis. An accurate understanding of mitosis at the molecular level is crucial to elucidate the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and develop new anti-cancer therapies.
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DUCHENNE DISTROPHY: ENGINEERING A NEW ARTIFICIAL GENE FOR THERAPEUTIC PURPOSES

