Research: Phenotypic and functional characterization of cardiac stromal cells in a Charme knock-out mouse model
-Title of the research project: Phenotypic and functional characterization of cardiac stromal cells in a Charme knock-out mouse model
-Thematic area: Cardiovascular physiology and pathology
-SSD: MED/46
-Education:
28/10/2021: Master Degree
Graduated with honours (110/110 cum laude) in Medical Biotechnologies at “Sapienza” University of Rome. Experimental dissertation: “Phenotypic and functional characterization of cardiac stromal cells in a Charme knock-out mouse model”
15/07/2019: Bachelor’s Degree
Graduated with honours (110/110 cum laude) in Biotechnologies at “Sapienza” University of Rome. Experimental dissertation: “Characterization of long non-coding RNAs expression in melanoma”
09/07/2016: High School Qualification in Foreign Languages, Liceo Statale A. Manzoni, Latina (100/100 cum laude)
-Scientific Interests: Regeneration of adult tissues and cardiovascular physiopathology, with specific interest for cardiac stroma; bidimensional and tridimensional cell culturing techniques; animal disease models and genetically modified animal models. Cellular and molecular biology of human and murine cardiac stromal cells and their translational applications.
-Brief description of the project:
Charme is a murine long non-coding RNA with specific expression in striated muscles, presenting a human orthologue with 45% identity. Its depletion leads to incomplete muscle differentiation. Charme-/- mice display an altered cardiac phenotype with increased wall thickness and reduced chamber dimensions due to myocyte hyperplasia. Left ventricular dilatation and reduced fractional shortening are detected in aged Charme-/- mice. Embryonic myocardial architecture reveals aberrant compaction and ventricular hypotrabeculation, resembling some congenital cardiomyopathies. Cardiac mesenchymal stromal cells (CMSCs) play key roles in tissue homeostasis and pathophysiology, by maintaining the extra-cellular matrix and by paracrine action on all myocardial cells. The aim of this project is to elucidate the phenotype and function of resident CMSCs in the Charme-/- heart in homeostasis and disease. CMSCs were isolated from 5-week-old wild-type (WT) and Charme-/- mice by explant culture, pooling at least 4 different hearts per culture. The depletion of the myogenic long non-coding RNA Charme in the heart impairs the maturation and functionality of resident cardiac mesenchymal stromal cells. These cells show plastic mesenchymal features, a significant depletion of the pro-fibrotic fraction, and an impoverished paracrine profile. Cardiac mesenchymal stromal cells could contribute to the altered cardiac architecture of Charme-/- mice, and their ability to face cardiac injury in the adult tissue could be impaired.
-Grants and fundings:
11th October 2023: Funding from “Sapienza” University of Rome for PhD student International Mobility. Granted amount: 2100€
2023-2024: Principal investigator, Sapienza University call 2020 for Starting Grants “Avvio alla Ricerca”. Project title: “Application of gold nanorods (AuNRs) for the specific targeting of myofibroblasts to attenuate cardiac fibrosis”. Protocol: AR123188B3ECD2B0. Granted amount: 1200€
2022- 2023: Principal investigator, Sapienza University call 2020 for Starting Grants “Avvio alla Ricerca”. Project title: “Study of the role of the long non-coding RNA Charme in the functional phenotype of cardiac stromal cells”. Protocol: AR12218167E8FA71. Granted amount: 1000€
-Awards:
27th March 2023: Sapienza Award as Excellent Graduate for the academic year 2020/2021
-Abstract presentation:
24/08/2023 – 28/08/2023: ESC Congress 2023 Amsterdam. Moderated poster presentation. European Society of Cardiology. E Floris, V Picchio, C Cozzolino, V Taliani, G Buonaiuto, C Nicoletti, M Ballarino, I Chimenti, F Pagano (2023). The role of Charme in the phenotype and function of resident cardiac mesenchymal stromal cells. European Heart Journal, Volume 44, Issue Supplement_2, November 2023, ehad655.3044, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad655.3044
-Seminars, meetings, courses attended:
20/10/2023: ETICA E CONCEZIONE DEI PROGETTI, MODULI 9, 10, 11, DM 5 AGOSTO 2021. Corso FAD Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna.
20/10/2023: LEGISLAZIONE NAZIONALE ED ETICA LIVELLO 1, MODULI 1 E 2, DM 5 AGOSTO 2021. Corso FAD Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna.
23/06/2023: Immune system and tumour microenvironment crosstalk in 3D models: messenger final event. LazioInnova final event.
21/06/2023: Riboregulation from bacteria to eukaryotes: mechanisms and challenges. Matthias Hentze, Ina Huppertz, Ben Luisi, Gian Gaetano Tartaglia, Francesca Cutruzzolà. PhD school in life sciences.
01/06/2023: Enzymes by the point of view of a computational chemist. Prof. Massimiliano Aschi. PhD school in life sciences.
05/05/2023: Exploring the allosteric mechanism of oncogenic phosphatase SHP2 for the design of peptide inhibitors of its protein-protein interactions. Prof. Lorenzo Stella. PhD school in life sciences.
21/04/2023: Protecting our genome: mechanisms to maintain DNA repeats stability in human cells. Prof. Simona Giunta. PhD school in life sciences.
30/03/2023: Educating tumor-associate macrophages under metabolic stress. Dr. Ping-Chih Ho. PhD school in life sciences.
23/03/2023: Insulin Signaling in Alzheimer’s Disease Brain and Models Thereof. Prof. Eugenio Barone. PhD school in life sciences.
17/03/2023: Deciphering self-renewal traits in epidermal stem cells. Dr. Elena Enzo. PhD school in life sciences.
09/03/2023: Application of deep learning to the protein structure prediction: the tale of a “gigantic leap”. Prof. Anna Marabotti. PhD school in life sciences.
03/03/2023: Engineering proteins to boost LTP and memory. Prof. Cristian Ripoli. PhD school in life sciences.
30/01/2023-31/01/2023: From Ramon y Cajas to CryoEM. Course for Advanced Microscopy. Prof. Silvia Di Angelantonio. PhD school in life sciences.
22/06/2022: Cardiovascular Research Discoveries: Cardiovascular Fibrosis. Prof. Nikolaos Frangogiannis, Prof. Alex Pinto, Dr. Ryszard Nosalski. European Society of Cardiology.
20/05/2022: NADPH Oxidase: Structure, Enzymology and Drug Design. Prof. Andrea Mattevi. PhD school in life sciences.
06-13/05/2022: Preparing artwork for scientific papers. Prof. Giorgio Giardina. (1 CFU – 8h). PhD school il life sciences.
12/05/2022: When viral RNA met the cell: a story of protein-RNA interactions. Prof. Alfredo Castello. PhD school in life sciences.
06/05/2022: RNA-based therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative tauopathies. Prof. Michela A. Denti. PhD school in life sciences.
29/04/2022: Metabolic control of T cell immunity. Prof. Mauro Corrado. PhD school in life sciences.
22/04/2022: Architecture of the human erythrocyte ankyrin-1 complex. Dr. Francesca Vallese. PhD school in life sciences.
14/04/2022: New frontiers in regenerative medicine. Dr. Thomas Rando, Dr. Pura Munoz-Canoves, Prof. Feliciano Protasi, Prof. Maurilio Sampaolesi. Scientific Forum - IBSA Foundation and Accademia medica di Roma.
08/04/2022: Evolution of Klebsiella pneumoniae high-risk clones to pan-resistance. Prof. Alessandra Carattoli. PhD school in life sciences.
01/04/2022: Mechanism of a cell wall transporter involved in lipoteichoic acid synthesis and bacterial adaptation. Prof. Camilo Perez. PhD school in life sciences.
25/03/2022: Amino acid metabolism: involvement in tumor progression and new therapeutic approaches. Dr. Alessio Paone. PhD school in life sciences.
18/03/2022: Functional and Pathological Interactions of α synuclein. Prof. Alfonso De Simone. PhD school in life sciences.
17/03/2022: Induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) technology for cardiac repair. Prof. Nuria Montserrat, Prof. Wolfram Zimmermann. European Society of Cardiology.
11/03/2022: Emerging role for m6A RNA modification in cancer: learning from leukemia. Prof. Alessandro Fatica. PhD school in life sciences.
08-09-15-16/02/2022: Corso di Scrittura Tecnico-Scientifica. Prof. Emilio Matricciani. (4 CFU – 24h). Sapienza University of Rome.
27/01/2022: Microbioma intestinale e rischio cardiometabolico. Prof. Massimo Federici. Department of medico-surgical sciences and biotechnologies.
13/12/2021: Enhancing advanced cardiac differentiation of iPS through organs-on-chip technology for effective in vitro modelling. Dr. Berend van Meer and Prof. Massimo Mastrangeli. Stem cells and molecular medicine international winter school.
13/12/2021: Novel biological drugs for cardiac regeneration. Prof. Mauro Giacca. Stem cells and molecular medicine international winter school.
-Publications:
E Floris, V Picchio, C Cozzolino, V Taliani, G Buonaiuto, C Nicoletti, M Ballarino, I Chimenti, F Pagano (2023). The role of Charme in the phenotype and function of resident cardiac mesenchymal stromal cells. European Heart Journal, Volume 44, Issue Supplement_2, November 2023, ehad655.3044, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehad655.3044
Vittorio Picchio, Giulio Ferrero, Claudia Cozzolino, Barbara Pardini, Erica Floris, Sonia Tarallo, Xhulio Dhori, Cristina Nocella, Lorenzo Loffredo, Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai, Roberto Carnevale, Giacomo Frati, Isotta Chimenti, Francesca Pagano (2023). Effect of traditional or heat-not-burn cigarette smoking on circulating miRNAs in healthy subjects. European journal of clinical investigation, pp. e14140- - ISSN: 0014-2972, doi: 10.1111/eci.14140.
Floris E.*; Cozzolino C.*; Marconi S.; Tonicello F.; Picchio V.; Pagano F.; Chimenti I (2023). A review of therapeutic strategies against cardiac fibrosis. From classical pharmacology to novel molecular, epigenetic, and biotechnological approaches. Reviews in cardiovascular medicin, ISSN 1530-6550. - 24:8(2023). [10.31083/j.rcm2408226] (*Equal contribution)
Cozzolino Claudia, Picchio Vittorio, Floris Erica, Pagano Francesca, Saade Wael, Peruzzi Mariangela, Frati Giacomo, Chimenti Isotta (2023). Modified risk tobacco products and cardiovascular repair. Still very smoky. Current stem cell research & therapy, vol. 18, p. 440-444, ISSN: 1574-888X, doi: 10.2174/1574888X17666220802142532
Elena De Falco, Antonella Bordin, Cecilia Menna, Xhulio Dhori, Vittorio Picchio, Claudia Cozzolino, Elisabetta De Marinis, Erica Floris, Noemi Maria Giorgiano, Paolo Rosa, Erino Angelo Rendina, Mohsen Ibrahim, Antonella Calogero (2023). Remote adipose tissue-derived stromal cells of patients with lung adenocarcinoma generate a similar malignant microenvironment of the lung stromal counterpart. Journal of oncology, vol. 2023, p. 1-15, ISSN: 1687-8450, doi: 10.1155/2023/1011063
Vittorio Picchio*, Erica Floris*, Yuriy Derevyanchuk, Claudia Cozzolino, elisa messina, Francesca Pagano, Chimenti I, Roberto Gaetani (2022). Multicellular 3D models for the study of cardiac fibrosis. International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 23, p. 1-14, ISSN: 1422-0067, doi: 10.3390/ijms231911642 (*Equal contribution)
Picchio, V., Bordin, A., Floris, E., Cozzolino, C., Dhori, X., Peruzzi, M., Frati, G., De Falco, E., Pagano, F., & Chimenti, I. (2022). The dynamic facets of the cardiac stroma: from classical markers to omics and translational perspectives. American Journal of Translational Research, 14(2), 1172–1187. www.ajtr.org
Pagano F, Picchio V, Bordin A, Cavarretta E, Nocella C, Cozzolino C, Floris E, Angelini F, Sordano A, Peruzzi M, Miraldi F, Biondi-Zoccai G, De Falco E, Carnevale R, Sciarretta S, Frati G, Chimenti I. (2022). Progressive stages of dysmetabolism are associated with impaired biological features of human cardiac stromal cells mediated by the oxidative state and autophagy. Journal of Pathology, vol. 258, p. 136-148, ISSN: 0022-3417, doi: 10.1002/path.5985.