Neuroscience
Neural stem cell biology
Neural stem cells have been identified in the central nervous system (CNS) of several different species, including humans. Their physiological function consists in the replacement of physiologically lost neurons within restricted CNS areas. These cells are thought to be etiologically involved in the pathogenesis of several genetic diseases involving the CNS. Likewise, cancer stem cells that share many features with the normal ones have been also isolated and characterized from different highly malignant brain tumors, such as glioblastoma multiforme and medulloblastoma.
Research activity
The research activity of the NSCBU is currently focused on two main different research themes: the first aims at exploring the relationship between hyperactivation of mTOR and Akt pathways in neural stem cells at different developmental stages and the pathogenesis of the neurological abnormalities associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, a genetic disease severely affecting the CNS; the second aims at exploiting the dysregulated metabolism of brain tumors as a source of subgroup-restricted metabolic vulnerabilities. To this end, we take advantage of in vitro and in vivo preclinical models joined with state-of-the-art molecular technologies (e.g., bulk transcriptomics, phosphoproteomics, metabolomics).
