Ecophysiology, Biomarkes and Sustainable Management of Bivalves (EsMaBa)

Study of the molecular basis of the immune response of cultured fish and shellfish against pathogens. Study of inflammation and viral infections in vertebrates using the zebrafish model.

Our work aims at understanding how gene networks and their architecture control cell specification and the patterning, size and shape of organs. To this aim we use genetics, genomics, quantitative imaging and advanced microscopy techniques, as well as mathematical modeling. The main model organism is Drosophila melanogaster. although we have more recently introduced new non-model dipteran and ephemeropteran species to study the control and evolution of organ size and shape. The main focus is on the visual system.

The main focus of our laboratory is to study cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the morphogenesis of the vertebrate eye.

Role of nuclear pore proteins (nucleoporins) in nuclear envelope structure and function; chromatin organization; chromosome segregation; post-mitotic nuclear envelope formation; High-throughput RNAi screening.

Research on the mechanisms of skeletal muscle specification, determination, and differentiation during embryonic and postnatal development as well as those related to muscle function and homeostasis.

In our group we are combining epigenomics, chromosome capture assays, transgenic enhancer experiments and mutagenic studies to determine how cis-regulatory elements and chromatin structure contribute to development and evolution, and how alteration in this non-coding part of the genome affects human health.

Our group studies how two-dimensional epithelial sheets of cells reorganize during development to make specific organs. To address this issue we are following two complementary lines of research: (1) Control of Hox induced morphogenesis and (2) Study of the Drosophila JAK/STAT signalling function during development.

Study of cellular mechanisms that interact with mitochondrial function and affect metabolism and ageing

Molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating cell migration and morphogenesis