Università degli studi di Padova

Paolo Bonaldo
Paola Braghetta
Matilde Cescon
Anna Urciuolo
Dario Bizzotto (Technician)
Silvia Castagnaro
Nicola Facchinello
Lisa Gambarotto
Chiara Consorti
Loris Russo
Sonia Calabrò
Samuele Metti
Giulia Pigato

Research Themes

• role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in tissue homeostasis with a focus on collagen VI and emilins: i) molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the transduction of ECM signals; ii) in vivo analysis (mouse and zebrafish models) of protein distribution and function in different tissues; iii) implication of ECM proteins in disease-specific contexts; iv) ECM impact in tumors;
• production and analysis of animal models of muscular dystrophies, focus on: i) pathogenetic mechanisms; ii) new therapeutic perspectives; iv) neuromuscular junction physiology; iii) identification and validation of new biomarkers for the diagnosis and therapy;
• production and analysis of animal models of congenital cardiomyopathy, focus on: i) signals inducing cardiac fibrosis; ii) ECM implication in cardiac fibrosis; iii) new therapeutic perspectives;
• role of autophagy in normal and pathological conditions in skeletal muscle and central and peripheral myelinating glia: i) conditional knockout models for the study of specific autophagy-related genes; ii) nutritional approaches and new drugs in neuromuscular diseases; iii) gut-neuromuscular axis;
• development and study of bioengineered human neuromuscular tissue with a focus on: i) differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells; ii) role of biomaterials and three-dimensional cell culture systems in the neuromuscular tissue maturation; iii) pathogenetic mechanisms of neuromuscular diseases

Keywords: extracellular matrix, functional genomics, transgenesis, autophagy, muscular dystrophies, skeletal muscle, myelinating glia, human neuromuscular in vitro models.

Alessandra Rampazzo
Giovanni Vazza
Libero Vitiello
Gianluca Occhi

Research Themes

• Our research topics deal with the study of Mendelian and multifactorial diseases, chiefly inherited cardiomyopathies, muscular dystrophies and familial cancers, in terms of genetic diagnosis, characterization of pathogenetic mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level and identification of therapeutic molecules. We use genome-wide in silico analyses, patient-derived and mouse-derived cell cultures and in vivo murine models.

Keywords: genomic variants, transcriptome, cell signaling pathways, therapeutic targets, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Maurizio Onisto
Valentina Masola
Nicola Greco

Research Themes

• Biology of the extracellular matrix (ECM), cell signaling, drug targeting at the molecular and cellular level, biological tests and cellular mimetic models for the study of cell and tumor invasiveness.
• Study of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and related tissue inhibitors
• Study of heparanase, the only specific endoglycosidase capable of cleaving heparan sulfate (HS) chains thus resulting in the turnover of the ECM and in the release of many HS-related molecules such as growth factors, cytokines and enzymes involved in fibrosis, inflammation and tumor invasion
• Effects of growth factors (TGFb, EGF and VEGF) and their receptors on gene expression and synthesis of ECM molecules and on tissue remodeling
• Development of bio-compatible solutions for peritoneal dialysis (PD)
• Role of metabolism in fibrosis-associated organ injury (heart, kidney and peritoneum)

Keywords: ECM biology, Matrix-metalloproteinases, Heparanase, Matrix-mediated signaling, Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT).