Alessio Zippo

Università degli Studi di Trento (UNITN)

Biosketch

Alessio Zippo received his M.Sc. in Biotechnology in the University of Bologna in 2000. I performed my thesis work in 1998-2000 at Chiron Vaccine where I resulted co-inventor of an international patent. In 2004 He earned a Ph.D in Biotechnology at the University of Siena under the supervision of Prof. Oliviero where He studied regulatory mechanisms governing vasculogenesis. He continued working in the same team as post-doc focusing on the synergism between the oncoprotein PIM1 and MYC in tumour progression and transcription regulation (Zippo A. et al., Nat Cell Biol, 2007). Thereafter, as senior scientist in Epigenetics (2008-2012) at the University of Siena, He defined the molecular mechanisms through which histone H3 phosphorylation modulates transcription activation demonstrating that this histone marks is required to trigger transcription elongation (Zippo A. et al., Cell, 2009). In 2013, He was appointed as junior PI in Epigenetics at the National Institute of Molecular Genetics (INGM) where He led his independent research team studying in Epigenetics in stem cells. In 2017, He became Assistant Professor and then in 2020 He was appointed as Associate Professor at the University of Trento (Italy), where He is currently leading the laboratory of Chromatin Biology & Epigenetics.

Selected Publications:

1. Alessandra Fasciani, Sarah D’Annunzio, Vittoria Poli, Luca Fagnocchi, Sven Beyes, Daniela Michelatti,Francesco Corazza, Laura Antonelli, Francesco Gregoretti, Gennaro Oliva, Romina Belli, Daniele Peroni, Samuel Zambrano, Daniela Intartaglia, Carmine Settembre, Ivan Conte, Claudia Testi, Panagiotis Vergyris, Giancarlo Ruocco and Alessio Zippo;

MLL4-associated condensates counterbalance Polycomb-mediated nuclear mechanical stress in Kabuki Syndrome

Nature Genetics, 2020 Dec;52(12):1397-1411

2. Gennaro Gambardella, Leopoldo Staiano, Maria Nicoletta Moretti, Rossella De Cegli, Luca Fagnocchi, Giuseppe Di Tullio, Sara Polletti, Clarissa Braccia, Andrea Armirotti, Alessio Zippo, Andrea Ballabio, Maria Antonietta De Matteis, Diego di Bernardo

GADD34 is a modulator of autophagy during starvation

Science Advances 2020 Sep 25;6(39):eabb0205. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb0205. 

3. Alessandro Sessa, Luca Fagnocchi, Giuseppina Mastrototaro, Luca Massimino, Mattia Zaghi,  Marzia Indrigo, Stefano Cattaneo, Davide Martini, Chiara Gabellini, Cecilia Pucci, Simona Di Pelino2, Stefano Taverna, Massimiliano Andreazzoli, Alessio Zippo,* and Vania Broccoli,*

SETD5 regulates chromatin methylation state and preserves global transcriptional fidelity during brain development and neuronal wiring

Neuron 2019 Oct 23;104(2):271-289.e13

* Co-senior Authors

4. Luca Fagnocchi, Vittoria Poli and Alessio Zippo

Enhancer reprogramming in tumor progression: a new route towards cancer cell plasticity.

Cell Mol Life Sci. 2018 Jul;75(14):2537-2555.

5. Vittoria Poli, Luca Fagnocchi , Alessandro Cherubini , Stefania Mazzoleni , Alessandra Fasciani , Annarita Miluzio , Gabriella Gaudioso , Valentina Vaira , Silvano Bosari , Alice Turdo , Miriam Giaggianesi , Aurora Chinnici , Elisa Lipari , Silvio Bicciato , Matilde Todaro and Alessio Zippo

MYC-driven epigenetic reprogramming favors the onset of tumorigensis by inducing a stem cell-like state

Nature Communications, 2018 March 9;9(1):1024.

6. Fagnocchi L, Cherubini A, Hatsuda H, Fasciani A, Mazzoleni S, Poli V, Berno V, Rossi RL, Reinbold R, Endele M, Schroeder T, Rocchigiani M, Szkarłat Ż, Oliviero S, Dalton S, Zippo A.

A Myc-driven self-reinforcing regulatory network maintains mouse embryonic stem cell identity

Nature Communications. 2016 Jun 15;7:11903.

7. Zippo A, Serafini R, Rocchigiani M, Pennacchini S, Krepelova A, Oliviero S.

“Histone crosstalk between H3S10ph and H4K16ac generates a histone code that mediates transcription elongation”

Cell. 2009 Sep 18; 138(6):1122-36.

8. Zippo A, De Robertis A, Serafini R, Oliviero S.

“PIM1-dependent phosphorylation of Histone H3 at Serine 10 is required for the transcriptional activation of MYC-target genes”

Nature Cell Biology. 2007 Aug; 9(8):932-44

Institute description

The University of Trento (UniTrento) is a dynamic, middle-size University (with over 16.600 students enrolled in 2020-2021 and 733 professors/researchers), located in the North East of Italy. Founded in 1962, it has constantly pursued the improvement of the quality of research and teaching and the strengthening of its international dimension, networking with qualified universities and research centres, making its campuses international and encouraging the presence in Trento of foreign visiting professors, researchers and students from all over the world. UniTrento is an active key player in the local community and in its innovation system, with very close links to the regional industry and society.

The 11 Departments and 4 Center of UniTrento offer 27 undergraduate courses, 43 Master’s degree courses, 17 doctoral programmes, 4 postgraduate programmes and 1 specialisation school. In 2017, eight Departments of UniTrento received additional funding under the Department of Excellence national scheme, for developing innovative teaching and research. UniTrento is ranked in the 34% of the top universities worldwide, according to QS World University Rankings 2022. The World University Ranking 2022 by the Times Higher Education magazine ranked UniTrento in the 351-400 group. UniTrento has been leading the Italian ranking of medium-sized universities since 2020.