Luciano
Di Croce
[coordinator]

Luciano Di Croce has long standing research experience in gene regulation, stem cell differentiation and cancer. His expertise includes biochemistry of chromatin complexes, epigenomics, chromosome conformation, cell differentiation, mouse models and cancer biology.

Understanding the genetic basis of cancers has been a topic of intense research for Luciano. Hundreds of gene mutations have been identified that can cause carcinogenesis but, recently increasing evidence has suggested that mutations are not the only genetic changes that lead to cancer.

Luciano’s investigation focuses on understanding the role of several protein complexes that are involved in chromatin dynamics and metabolism. These when altered could participate in the establishment and maintenance of the aberrant silencing of tumor suppressor genes during transformation.

Research results suggest 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).

The belief is that the results of this research will lead to the identification of new biological tools with a potential impact on cancer therapeutic intervention.