A new model system for cortical development in vitro
Researchers from Human Technopole, the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology and Bicocca University established a method for developing brain assembloids that allows reproducing salient aspects of the antero-posterior polarity of the human cerebral cortex in vitro and opens new possibilities for disease modelling. The study is published in Nature Methods.
The National Facility for Genomics with Clelia Peano
Meet Clelia Peano, Head of the National Facility for Genomics. The Facility offers cutting-edge services to develop robust experimental and analytical workflows to explore different genomic research areas, including DNA and RNA analysis, chromatin structure, and epigenetic mechanisms regulating transcription. The goal is to enhance genomic research in all its aspects, benefiting the entire Italian scientific community.
SOLIST: Towards a Biopsy at the Nanoscale
Human Technopole researchers have developed an improved cryo-lift out technique: Serialized On-grid Lift-in Sectioning for Tomography (SOLIST). SOLIST is a significant upgrade over previous approaches and allows imaging tissues to reveal their native organization at a molecular level with a throughput previously impossible. The results of the research are published in Nature Methods.
The “tubulin code” in control of ciliary beating
Using advanced cryo-electron microscopy techniques and mutational analysis, HT researchers show that protofilament-specific patterns of tubulin polyglutamylation and glycylation promote the direct binding of axonemal proteins to the ciliary axoneme, thus modulating ciliary beating. The findings are published in Current Biology.
The evolutionary history of amylase genes for starch digestion
A Nature study co-authored by HT researchers reveals that amylase genes required for starch digestion underwent multiple duplication and deletion events during human evolution and that agriculture favoured structures containing amylase gene duplications.