PhD Programme in Complex Systems for Life Sciences (until 35th cycle)

Our research investigation is focused on understanding the role of several protein complexes that are involved in chromatin dynamics and metabolism, which when altered could participate in the establishment and maintenance of the aberrant silencing of tumor suppressor genes during transformation. Our results suggested that the Nucleosome Remodelling and Deacetylase complex (NuRD), Polycomb group of proteins (PcG) and the histone variant macroH2A are - with different timing and kinetics - involved in setting up an altered chromatin structure with aberrant gene silencing in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). We believe that the results of our research will lead to the identification of new biological tools with a potential impact on cancer therapeutic intervention.