Research themes
The lab has a long-standing experience in the Genetics of Cancer with a particular emphasis on the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms that characterize the arising and progression of childhood tumours such as neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma and retinoblastoma. Recently, the lab has started to focus on genetic disorders affecting skeletal and cardiac muscles, exploring the potential application of genome editing for the treatment of these conditions. Studies are conducted using numerous molecular technologies ranging from manipulation of nucleic acids in vitro (cloning of DNA in propagating and expression vectors) and genomes in vivo (CRISPR/CAS9), genome-wide analyses of transcriptomes (qRT-PCR and RNA-seq), analyses of DNA (methylome) and chromatin modifications ( Immuno-precipitation and ChIP seq) to the analyses of DNA and protein interactions both in vivo and vivo using assays such as Co-IP, PLA (Proximal Ligation Assay), BiFC (Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation) GST Pull down and EMSA. Finally, studies employ both in vitro and in vivo models such as cell cultures derived from primary tumours, iPSCs derived from patients, and Drosophila melanogaster and Mus musculus as animal systems to model identified genetic mechanisms of the diseases.