Genetics and cell biology
Biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance
The group uses biomolecular NMR spectroscopy coupled to biochemical, biophysical and computational methods to study the structure/function activity of proteins (or protein domains) involved in human diseases (e.g. cancer, genetic diseases).
Research activity
The unit is interested in:
- the structure, dynamics and activity of chromatin interacting domains (e.g. PHD domains, BRD domains) present in transcriptional regulators involved in cancer and or genetic diseases (e.g. Sp140, NSD1);
- identifying small molecules able to inhibit the activity of extracellular receptors highly expressed in tumours (e.g.avb3 integrin) or in inflammation conditions (e.g. HMGB1);
- applying NMR as analytical technique in metabolomics.
Berardi A, Ghitti M, Quilici G, Musco G. In silico derived small molecules targeting the finger-finger interaction between the histone lysine methyltransferase NSD1 and Nizp1 repressor. Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2020 Dec 3;18:4082-4092. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2020.11.044.
De Leo F, Quilici G, Tirone M, De Marchis F, Mannella V, Zucchelli C, Preti A, Gori A, Casalgrandi M, Mezzapelle R, Bianchi ME, Musco G Diflunisal targets the HMGB1/CXCL12 heterocomplex and blocks immune cell recruitment. EMBO Rep. 2019 Oct 4;20(10):e47788. doi: 10.15252/embr.201947788
Nardelli F, Paissoni C, Quilici G, Gori A, Traversari C, Valentinis B, Sacchi A, Corti A, Curnis F, Ghitti M, Musco G. Succinimide-Based Conjugates Improve IsoDGR Cyclopeptide Affinity to αvβ3 without Promoting Integrin Allosteric Activation. J Med Chem. 2018 Sep 13;61(17):7474-7485
Berardi A, Quilici G, Spiliotopoulos D, Corral-Rodriguez MA, Martin-Garcia F, Degano M, Tonon G, Ghitti M, Musco G. Structural basis for PHDVC5HCHNSD1-C2HRNizp1 interaction: Implications for Sotos syndrome. Nucleic Acids Research 2016 Apr 20;44(7):3448-63.
Venereau E, De Leo F, Mezzapelle R, Careccia G, Musco G, Bianchi ME. HMGB1 as biomarker and drug target. Pharmacological Research 2016 Sep;111:534-544.
Carrabba MG, Tavel L, Oliveira G, Forcina A, Quilici G, Nardelli F, Tresoldi C, Ambrosi A, Ciceri F, Bernardi M, Vago L, Musco G. Integrating a prospective pilot trial and patient-derived xenografts to trace metabolic changes associated with acute myeloid leukemia. Journal of Hematology and Oncology 2016 Oct 28;9(1):115.
Rowe I. Chiaravalli M, Mannella V, Ulisse V, Quilici G, Pema M, Song XW, Xu H, Mari S, Qian F, Pei Y, Musco G, Boletta A. Defective glucose metabolism in polycystic kidney disease identifies a new therapeutic strategy. Nat. Med. 2013 Apr;19(4):488-93
