With a medicinal chemistry background, the group focuses on drug discovery projects aimed at developing innovative drug strategies to combat cancer. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play key roles in patient relapse after chemotherapy, and selective drugs targeting these cells are still scarce. The group is developing innovative chemical strategies to eliminate CSCs with high selectivity. These include harnessing new drug modalities and crafting unique drug delivery strategies tailored specifically for these cells.

Our group is interested in the study of subcellular architecture and in exploring the structural alterations that occur in pathological conditions in neurodegenerative diseases, with a special focus on Huntington's Disease as a model. Our hypothesis is that the maintenance of subcellular architecture is essential to preserve cellular homeostasis.

Our lab investigates the role that epigenetics and, more specifically, high-order chromatin structure plays in the setting of heart failure. We combine our expertise in epigenomics and cardiac physiology to better understand how topological remodeling of the genome modifies the transcriptional programs that mediate the pathology of cardiac disease. Our work aims to identify structural patterns that can serve as predictive markers and targets of epigenetic therapies intended to prevent or alleviate heart failure.

Microbes detect and respond to a variety of environmental signals. Despite lacking a nervous system, microorganisms sense, compute and store information on their external world. Using a combination of computational and experimental approaches, we study how sensory systems evolve, and how memory and learning are implemented in single cells.

The Plant Adaptive Genomics and Genetics group uses bioinformatics, molecular biology and genetics in Arabidopsis and tomato to identify and characterise genes important for plant adaptation and domestication.