Ronchi Antonella, PhD
Associate Professor of Genetics
room 3045, building U3, tel.: +39 02 6448 3337
lab 3021, building U3, tel.: +39 02 6448 3317
Molecular Genetics of Hematopoiesis Lab (Biomedicine area)
The activity is focused on the following research lines
Health
Genetic Diseases, Stem cells and Regenerative Medicine
Research Group
Barbarani Gloria – PostDoc
lab 3021, building U3, tel. +39 02 6448 3317, gloria.barbarani@unimib.it
Agata Labedz – PhD student
lab 3021, building U3, tel. +39 02 6448 3317, agata.labedz@unimib.it
Stucchi Sarah – Master student
lab 3021, building U3, tel. +39 02 6448 3317, s.stucchi@campus.unimib.it
Keywords
cell differentiation , hematopoiesis, erythropoiesis, transcription factors, transcriptional regulation, hemoglobin switching
Research interests
Mechanisms controlling cell specification and differentiation in hematopoiesis.
Molecular control of erythropoiesis:
-mechanisms of Hereditary Persistence of Fetal Hemoglobin: research on globin gene activity and function (mRNA translation, inherited structural and regulatory defects, transcriptional control).
-transcriptional control of the expression of genes encoding erythroid transcription factors, in particular GATA 1 (and its transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation), Sox6 and NR2F2.
-study of the transcriptional regulation of the “stem cell” gene c-Kit
-identification and functional analysis of genes differentially expressed during erythropoiesis
-signal transduction mechanisms controlling cell commitment and differentiation in normal and pathological (leukemias, myelodysplastic syndromes) erythropoiesis
-development of high-content high throughout assays to identify drugs reactivating fetal globins genes.
Research areas
Genetics and molecular biology of hematopoiesis
Research projects
From 2011 to 2015: Coordinator of the Marie Curie project HEM-ID: hematopoietic cell identity: genetic and epigenetic regulation in normal and malignant hematopoiesis (HEM-ID PITN-GA-2011-289611, 11 partners, from 7 european countries).
From June 2019: Coordinator of the Marie Curie project “ARCH: Age-related changes in Hematopoiesis” (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018, n°813091: 15 beneficiaries, 5 Partner organisations from 10 countries). https://arch-project.eu/
Selected publications
Cristina Fugazza, Gloria Barbarani, Sudharshan Elangovan, Maria Giuseppina Marini, Serena Giolitto, Isaura Font-Monclus, Maria Franca Marongiu, Laura Manunza, John Strouboulis, Claudio Cantù, Fabio Gasparri, Barabino Silvia M.L., Yukio Nakamura, Sergio Ottolenghi, Paolo Moi and Antonella Ellena Ronchi “The Coup-TFII orphan nuclear receptor is an activator of the g-globin gene” Haematologica, accepted for publication.
Barbarani G, Fugazza C, Barabino SML, Ronchi AE. SOX6 blocks the proliferation of BCR-ABL1(+) and JAK2V617F(+) leukemic cells. Sci Rep. 2019; 9:3388. PMID: 30833651.
Cantù C, Ierardi R, Alborelli I, Fugazza C, Cassinelli L, Piconese S, Bosè F, Ottolenghi S, Ferrari G, Ronchi A. “Sox6 enhances erythroid differentiation in human erythroid progenitors” Blood 117:3669-79 (2011).
Cantu’ C., Grande V., Alborelli I., Cassinelli L., Cantù I., Colzani M.T., Ierardi R., Ronzoni L., Cappellini M.D., Ferrari G., Ottolenghi S., Ronchi A “A highly conserved Sox6 double binding site mediates Sox6 gene downregulation in erythroid cells” Nucleic Acids Research 39:486-501 (2011).
Ronchi’s Lab – #RonchiLab_BtBs
last update: September 2020