Current issues of research

1. Autoimmunome profiling - Exploiting the power of phage display technologies we developed a platform that allows the discovery and characterization of biomolecular interactions (protein-protein, protein-DNA, etc). We constructed large libraries displaying human cDNA-derived proteins and used them to profile the autoantibody repertoire (autoimmunome) in sera from patients with autoimmune diseases (e.g.: type 1 diabetes, celiac disease).

2. SINEUPs: non-coding RNAs to enhance protein translation in vitro and in vivo - SINEUPs are non-coding RNAs that are able to specifically stimulate protein translation of a gene of interest. SINEUP activity depends on the combination of two elements present in an RNA molecule: a 5′ end short sequence (Binding Domain) that complements to the sense protein-coding mRNA and determines target selection; an inverted SINE B2 sequence (Effector Domain), that is essential for protein synthesis up-regulation. We are developing SINEUP molecules to target a variety of protein coding mRNAs of biotechnological or therapeutic interests.

Top Five Papers

1. Patrucco L, Peano C, Chiesa A, Guida F, Luisi I, Boria I, Mignone F, De Bellis G, Zucchelli S, Gustincich S, Santoro C, Sblattero D, Cotella D. Identification of novel proteins binding the AU-rich element of α-prothymosin mRNA through the selection of open reading frames (RIDome). RNA Biol. 2015 DOI: 10.1080/15476286.2015.1107702

2. Carrieri C, Cimatti L, Biagioli M, Beugnet A, Zucchelli S, Fedele S, Pesce E, Ferrer I, Collavin L, Santoro C, Forrest AR, Carninci P, Biffo S, Stupka E, Gustincich S. Long non-coding antisense RNA controls Uchl1 translation through an embedded SINEB2 repeat. Nature. 2012 Nov 15;491(7424):454-7.

3. Di Niro R, Sulic AM, Mignone F, D'Angelo S, Bordoni R, Iacono M, Marzari R, Gaiotto T, Lavric M, Bradbury AR, Biancone L, Zevin-Sonkin D, De Bellis G, Santoro C, Sblattero D. Rapid interactome profiling by massive sequencing. Nucleic Acids Res. 2010 May;38(9):e110. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkq052.

4. Biagioli M, Pinto M, Cesselli D, Zaninello M, Lazarevic D, Roncaglia P, Simone R, Vlachouli C, Plessy C, Bertin N, Beltrami A, Kobayashi K, Gallo V, Santoro C, Ferrer I, Rivella S, Beltrami CA, Carninci P, Raviola E, Gustincich S. Unexpected expression of alpha- and beta-globin in mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and glial cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 8;106(36):15454-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0813216106.

5. Santoro C, Mermod N, Andrews PC, Tjian R. A family of human CCAAT-box-binding proteins active in transcription and DNA replication: cloning and expression of multiple cDNAs. Nature. 1988 Jul 21;334(6179):218-24.