Factors involved in the formation of cell type-specific chromatine loops and the dissection of mechanisms of action in the context of neuronal development

Supervisor: Dr. Boyan Bonev

Enrolled since 2019

In 2015, I obtained my bachelor’s degree in biology cum laude at the Università Statale di Milano, with a focus on neurobiology. During my master’s studies, I was granted the Erasmus Traineeship scholarship, which allowed me to do my final master’s thesis at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg) in the Department of Signal Transduction and Metabolism, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Aurelio Teleman. Following this period abroad, in 2018 I obtained my Master’s Degree in Molecular and Cell Biology cum laude at the Università Statale di Milano. After my graduation, I worked for a year as a Research Assistant on small noncoding RNAs at Cancer Research UK (CRUK, Cambridge), in the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Hannon.

Currently, I am a PhD student in the Bonev group at the Helmholtz Zentrum. My area of expertise focuses primarily on neuroepigenetics. I work on the identification of novel transcription factors, cofactors and chromatin modifiers involved in the formation of cell type-specific chromatin loops, followed by the dissection of their mechanisms of action within the context of neuronal development.

Publications

  • Vernizzi, L., Paiardi, C., Licata, G., Vitali, T., Santarelli, S., Raneli, M., Manelli, V., Rizzetto, M., Gioria, M., Pasini, M. E., Grifoni, D., Vanoni, M. A., Gellera, C., Taroni, F., & Bellosta, P. (2020). Glutamine Synthetase 1 Increases Autophagy Lysosomal Degradation of Mutant Huntingtin Aggregates in Neurons, Ameliorating Motility in a Drosophila Model for Huntington's Disease. Cells9(1), 196. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9010196.
  • Munafò, M., Manelli, V., Falconio, F. A., Sawle, A., Kneuss, E., Eastwood, E. L., Seah, J., Czech, B., & Hannon, G. J. (2019). Daedalus and Gasz recruit Armitage to mitochondria, bringing piRNA precursors to the biogenesis machinery. Genes & development, 33(13-14), 844–856. https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.325662.119.