Graziano Martello

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can give rise to all cell types found in the adult body, making them the perfect tool for regenerative medicine as well as an intellectually fascinating cell type, given their lack of any developmental restriction.

PSCs were initially derived from early mammalian embryos but are currently obtained by reprogramming adult cells. Our laboratory studies the biology of PSCs, how they are maintained, how they differentiate, how they are generated via reprogramming and how to use them for disease modeling.

We are modelling Huntington disease (HD) in PSCs with the aim to identify genes involved in the cellular toxicity caused by mutant Huntingtin, the protein responsible for HD. We combine genome-wide genetic approaches and bioinformatics to identify genes involved in HD development and test them as potential therapeutic targets in in vivo HD models.

Using Microfluidics to Generate Human Naïve and Primed Pluripotent Stem Cells
Zorzan I, Gagliano O, Elvassore N, Martello G.
Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2416:53-71. 

Metabolic control of DNA methylation in naive pluripotent cells
Riccardo M. Betto, Linda Diamante, Valentina Perrera, Matteo Audano, Stefania Rapelli, Andrea Lauria, Danny Incarnato, Mattia Arboit, Silvia Pedretti, Giovanni Rigoni, Vincent Guerineau, David Touboul, Giuliano Giuseppe Stirparo, Tim Lohoff, Thorsten Boroviak, Paolo Grumati, Maria E. Soriano, Jennifer Nichols, Nico Mitro, Salvatore Oliviero & Graziano Martello
Nature Genetics 2021.

Direct generation of human naive induced pluripotent stem cells from somatic cells in microfluidics
Giulitti S, Pellegrini M, Zorzan I, Martini P, Gagliano O, Mutarelli M, Ziller MJ, Cacchiarelli D, Romualdi C, Elvassore N, Martello G.
Nature Cell Biology 2019 Feb;21(2):275-286.