Education
1975 Degree in Medicine
1978 Specialization in Clinical and Laboratory Hematology

Professional Experiences:
1980-92 University Researcher, University of Modena
1984-86 Post-doctoral fellowship. Temple University, Philadelphia
1990 National Award “Alberto Neri”, Favretto Foundation
1992-99 Associate Professor in Cell biology, University of Modena
1992- Head of the cell biology lab, Dept Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena
1977-2000 Head of the DNA sequencing, oligonucleotides and peptides synthesis laboratory, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
1999- Full Professor of cell biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
2000- Head of microarrays lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
2003-06 Director of the PhD School in Molecular and regenerative Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
2006-08 Director of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
2008- Dean of the Faculty of Biosciences and Biotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
2008- Research Officer of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
2009 Member of the management committee of the Eugesma Cost Action.
2010 President of the Italian Biotechnology Conference

Awards:
1975 degree award “Giacomozzi Foundation”
1976 Degree awards “Lepetit” and “Adolfo Bellentani”
1977-1978 Scholarship of the Italian Association against Leukemias (AIL)
1979-80 Scholarship “Italian League against cancer”
1980 EMBO fellowship, Beatson Institute for Cancer Res, Glasgow

1. Genetic regulation of normal human myelopoiesis. This topic is carried on by a systems biology approach using an in vitro model of myeloid differentiation (purification of human cord blood hematopoietic stem cells and in vitro growth and differentiation. The methodology include: purification and characterization of cell populations (immune-phenotype, morphology, molecular markers etc), gene transfer in HSCs by retroviral vectors for over-expression studies, and gene silencing strategies, in vitro differentiation assays, clonogenic assay, gene expression profiling by Affymetrix system, validation of data with quantitative PCR or protein detection. Development, in collaboration with Dr Bicciato, of bio-informatic tools to develop transcriptome maps to identify silent or differentially expressed or co-regulated gene clusters and the corresponding chromatin domains in HSCs and myeloid precursors.

2. Positional effect of gene expression in inter-phase nuclei of normal and leukemic myeloid cells (stem and myeloid precursors) in a 3D model and characterization of chromosome territories.
By this methodology is possible to study the interactions between co-regulated cluster of genes, as well as interactions between silent or differentially expressed clusters and specialized nuclear domains and their possible modification in the differentiation transitions. As far as Chromosome territories is concerned, The main goal is to assess a possible dynamic variation and association in CTs three dimensional organization along differentiation and to verify the tissue specific model. The CT localization in inter-phase nuclei are of particular interest in leukemic blast cells since non random chromosome translocations are frequent in different types of leukemia. In fact several data suggest that translocations occur preferentially among proximally positioned genome regions.

3. Hemopoietic Stem cell niches biology. The experimental approach is based on co-cultures of HSCs with other cell types of the bone marrow microenvironment such as osteoblasts, adipocytes, endothelial cells, and other stromal cells. The main goal is to study by gene expression profiling how cell adhesion in the different kind of niches support proliferation or differentiation. These experiments can be performed with normal HSCs or leukemic cells.

4. New research line: Massive genome sequencing by 454, operative june 2010, to study the exome and all the coding and coding RNA populations in normal, myelodisplastic and leukemic HSCs.

Cheli S., Francois S., Bodega B., Ferrari F., Tenedini E., Roncaglia E., Ferrari S., Ginelli E., Meneveri R.Expression profiling of FSHD-1 and FSHD-2 cells during myogenic differentiation evidences common and distinctive gene dyssregulation patterns. Plos ONE 6: 1-11, 2011 (e20966)

Lenzi L, Facchin F, Piva F, Giulietti M, Pelleri MC, Frabetti F, Vitale L, Casadei R, Canaider S, Bortoluzzi S, Coppe A, Danieli GA, Principato G, Ferrari S, Strippoli P. TRAM (Transcriptome Mapper): database-driven creation and analysis of transcriptome maps from multiple sources. BMC Genomics. 2011 Feb 18;12:121.

Losi L, Parenti S, Ferrarini F, Rivasi F, Gavioli M, Natalini G, Ferrari S, Grande A. Down-regulation of μ-protocadherin expression is a common event in colorectal carcinogenesis. Hum Pathol. 2011 Mar 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Ferrari D, Gulinelli S, Salvestrini V, Lucchetti G, Zini R, Manfredini R, Caione L, Piacibello W, Ciciarello M, Rossi L, Idzko M, Ferrari S, Di Virgilio F, Lemoli RM. Purinergic stimulation of human mesenchymal stem cells potentiates their chemotactic response to CXCL12 and increases the homing capacity and production of proinflammatory cytokines. Exp Hematol. 2011 Mar;39(3):360-74, 374.e1-5. Epub 2010 Dec 9.

Vignudelli T, Selmi T, et al. ZFP36L1 Negatively Regulates Erythroid Differentiation of CD34+ Hematopoietic Stem Cells by Interfering with Stat5b Pathway. Mol Biol Cell. 2010 Aug 11.

Tenedini E, Roncaglia E, et al. Integrated Analysis of micro RNA and mRNA expression profiles in phisiological myelopoiesis: role of Hsa-mir-299-5p in CD34+ progenitor cells committment. Celle Death and Disease. 2010;1:1-6.

Parenti S, Ferrarini F, et al. Mesalazine inhibits the beta-catenin signalling pathway acting through the upregulation of mu-protocadherin gene in colo-rectal cancer cells. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2010 Jan;31(1):108-19.

Bianchi E, Zini R, et al. c-Myb supports erythropoiesis through the transactivation of KLF1 and LMO2 expression. Blood. 2010 Aug 4.

Zanocco-Marani T, Vignudelli T, et al. TFE3 transcription factor regulates the expression of MAFB during macrophage differentiation. Exp Cell Res. 2009 Jul 1;315(11):1798-808.

Pluchino S, Zanotti L, et al. Regeneration and repair in multiple sclerosis: the role of cell transplantation. Neurosci Lett. 2009 Jun 12;456(3):101-6.

Lemoli RM, Salvestrini V, et al. Molecular and functional analysis of the stem cell compartment of chronic myelogenous leukemia reveals the presence of a CD34- cell population with intrinsic resistance to imatinib. Blood. 2009 Dec 10;114(25):5191-200.

Coppe A, Ferrari F, et al. Motif discovery in promoters of genes co-localized and co-expressed during myeloid cells differentiation. Nucleic Acids Res. 2009 Feb;37(2):533-49.

Cellai C, Laurenzana A, et al. Mechanistic insight into WEB-2170-induced apoptosis in human acute myelogenous leukemia cells: the crucial role of PTEN. Exp Hematol. 2009 Oct;37(10):1176-85 e21.

Catani L, Zini R, et al. Molecular profile of CD34+ stem/progenitor cells according to JAK2V617F mutation status in essential thrombocythemia. Leukemia. 2009 May;23(5):997-1000.

Salati S, Zini R, et al. Role of CD34 antigen in myeloid differentiation of human hematopoietic progenitor cells. Stem Cells. 2008 Apr;26(4):950-9.

Gemelli C, Orlandi C, et al. The vitamin D3/Hox-A10 pathway supports MafB function during the monocyte differentiation of human CD34+ hemopoietic progenitors. J Immunol. 2008 Oct 15;181(8):5660-72.

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