BIOCHIMICA E BIOLOGIA MOLECOLARE

Seminari

Journal Clubs
Journal Clubs (JCs) have a long history. The first JC was organised in 1875 by Sir William Osler who worked at McGill University, Montreal (Canada). By the end of the XIX century, JCs became widespread across medical communities and were often held twice a month, at which one participant would present a paper and the assembled audience would critique.
We keep following the traditions of nobel medical societies of late 1880s. In our PhD program, students hold a JC twice a month presenting a recently published peer-reviewed paper. JCs are held exclusively in English

2026

Journal Club
08 May 2026 Faculty of Medicine, room D10 @14:00
A mitochondrial NADPH-cholesterol axis regulates extracellular vesicle biogenesis to support hematopoietic stem cell fate Cell Stem Cell 2024; 31(3): 359-377.e10 VSTM2L protects prostate cancer cells against ferroptosis via inhibiting VDAC1 oligomerization and maintaining mitochondria homeostasis nature communications 2025; 16: e56494

Journal Club
17 April 2026 Faculty of Medicine, room D19B @14:00
First-generation and preclinical evaluation of an EphA5-targeted antibody-drug conjugate in solid tumors The Journal of Clinical Investigation 2025; 135(14): e188492 Nonoperative Management of Mismatch Repair–Deficient Tumors The New England Journal of Medicine 2025; 392: NEJMoa2404512

Journal Club
01 April 2026 Faculty of Medicine, room 2A1 @14:00
Lipid droplet-induced T cell death sustains autoimmune tissue inflammation Cell Metabolism 2026; 38(4): 542-559.e10

Journal Club
06/03/2026 Faculty of Medicine, room 2A3 @14:00
Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life, 2026, Cell 189, 1–11//////// LncRNA LINC01026 Is Overexpressed in Psoriasis and Enhances Keratinocyte Cell Cycle Progression by Regulating the Ets Homologous Factor (EHF), Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 2025; 29:e70719

Journal Club
20/02/2026 Faculty of Medicine, room 2A4 @14:30
SARM1 senses dsDNA to promote NAD+ degradation and cell death, 2025, Cell 188,///////Comprehensive Tumor-Immune Profiling Reveals Mediators of Paradoxical Immune Sensitivity in Sarcomatoid Renal Cell Carcinoma, Cancer Cell. 2025 November 10; 43(11): 2014–2033

Biochemistry talks 2026, Dr Francesco Boccellato, Ludwig Institute University of Oxford
17/02/2026 @10:00-Faculty of Medicine Aula D29

Journal Club
23/01/2026 Faculty of Medicine, room 2A4 @14:30
Oxidative-stress-induced telomere instability drives T cell dysfunction in cancer, Immunity 58, 2524–2540, October 14, 2025

Journal Club
23/01/2026 Faculty of Medicine, room 2A4 @14:30
Therapy-induced senescent cancer cells contribute to cancer progression by promoting ribophorin 1-dependent PD-L1 upregulation, Nature Communications | ( 2025)1 6:353

Journal Club
09/01/2026, Faculty of Medicine, room 2A2 @14:00
Cellular pan-chain acyl-CoA profiling reveals SLC25A42/SLC25A16 in mitochondrial CoA import and metabolism. Nature Metabolism | Volume 7 | September 2025 | 1871–1888

Journal Club
5/12/2025, Faculty of Medicine, Room 1A2, @14:00
PD-1 Blockade in Mismatch Repair–Deficient, Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer, The new england journal of medicine, June 23, 2022 vol. 386 no. 25------- Assessment of endocrine disruptor impacts on lipid metabolism in a fatty acid-supplemented HepaRG human hepatic cell line, Chemosphere 349 (2024) 140883

2025

Biochemistry Talk Dr Alessandro Borsellini, Human Technopole Milan
Monday 13 Oct 2025 at 10.00, Faculty of Medicine Room D29

Biochemistry talks 2025, Dr Dmitri Tentler, Weizmann Institute of Science Israel
Mondday 06 Oct 2025 at 10.00, Faculty of Medicine Room D29

Seminar by Prof Carlo M. Croce on “MicroRNAs and tumor microenvironment”
Wednesday 24th Sept 2025 at 11 am, Aula Fleming, Faculty of Medicine.

Journal Club
19/09/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room 1B5 @14:00
High-dose ascorbic acid selectively induces pyroptosis in LKB1-deficient lung cancer and sensitizes immunotherapy Cell Reports Medicine 6, 102291 September 16, 2025 PHF8-GLUL axis in lipid deposition and tumor growth of clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Sci. Adv. 9, eadf3566 (2023)

Journal Club
12/09/2025 Faculty of Medicine, room 1A5 @14:00
Expression of b-globin by cancer cells promotes cell survival during blood-borne dissemination, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | 8:14344 | DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14344

Journal Club
12/09/2025 Faculty of Medicine, room 1A5 @14:00
Reciprocal inhibition between TP63 and STAT1 regulates anti-tumor immune response through interferon-γ signaling in squamous cancer, Nature Communications | ( 2024) 15:2484

Journal Club
04/07/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room 1A5 @14:00
CD44 regulates epigenetic plasticity by mediating iron endocytosis, Nature Chemistry 2020, 12, 929-938

Journal Club
06/06/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room 1A5 @14:00
Glycometabolic reprogramming-induced XRCC1 lactylation confers therapeutic resistance in ALDH1A3-overexpressing glioblastoma. Cell Metabolism 36, 1696–1710, 2024 ALDH7A1 protects against ferroptosis by generating membrane NADH and regulating FSP1. Cell 188, 1–17, 2025

Journal Club
23/05/2025 Faculty of Medicine, room 1A5 @14:00
Cancer-associated fibroblasts produce matrix-bound vesicles that influence endothelial cell function. Santi et al., Sci. Signal. 17, eade0580 (2024)

Journal Club
23/05/2025 Faculty of Medicine, room 1A5 @14:00
The Long Noncoding RNA LINC00958 Is Induced in Psoriasis Epidermis and Modulates Epidermal Proliferation. Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2023), Volume 143

2024

Journal Club
18/12/24 Faculty of Medicine, Room 1A6 @14:00
PRMT3 drives glioblastoma progression by enhancing HIF1A and glycolytic metabolism. Cell Death and Disease (2022)13:943

Journal Club
18/12/24 Faculty of Medicine, Room 1A6 @14:00
Human papillomavirus-encoded circular RNA circE7 promotes immune evasion in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Nature Communications (2024)15:8609

Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 3 e 4 dicembre 2024

Host-microbe co-evolution: symbiosis, infection and autophagy

Prof Yufang Shin, Soochow University & First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University
02/12/2024 at 15:00, Aula 1B5
Impact of Thymic Oleic Acid on iTreg Differentiation

Journal Club
Friday 19th July at 14:00, Room 2A2
PTEN inhibits AMPK to control collective migration. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2022) 13:4528 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31842-y

Journal Club
Friday 5th July at 14:00, Room 2A1
IDH2 stabilizes HIF-1a-induced metabolic reprogramming and promotes chemoresistance in urothelial cancer The EMBO Journal 42: e110620 | 2023

Journal Club
Friday 21st June at 14:00, Room 2A1
Cell cycle arrest induces lipid droplet formation and confers ferroptosis resistance Nature Communications | ( 2024)1 5:79 1, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44412-7

Journal Club
Friday 7th June at 14:00, room 2A1
YAP silencing by RB1 mutation is essential for small-cell lung cancer metastasis, Nature Communications | (2023)14:5916, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41585-z Lipid-droplet associated mitochondria promote fatty-acid oxidation through a distinct bioenergetic pattern in male Wistar rats Nature Communications | (2023)14:766, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36432-0

Biochemistry talk 2024, Prof Kiyotaka Hitomi, Nagoya University (Japan)
Friday, 24th May 2024, at 12.00 pm in the Aula Bovet, Faculty of Medicine
Studies on transglutaminase functions and keratinocyte differentiation using the 3D cell culture system

Journal Club
Friday 10th May at 14:00, room 2A1
Histone deacetylase 11 inhibition promotes breast cancer metastasis from lymph nodes NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2019)10:4192 |https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12222-5 |

2023

Journal Club
15/12/2023
1) IRAK4 degrader in hidradenitis suppurativa and atopic dermatitis: a phase 1 trial Nat Med (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02635-7

Journal Club
15/12/2023
Mitochondrial ATP fuels ABC transporter-mediated drug efflux in cancer chemoresistance Nat Commun. 2021 May 14;12(1):2804. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23071-6.

Seminari

16 Maggio 2023 Control of pancreatic cancer metabolism and patient outcome by collagen Professor Michael Karin, University of California San Diego 20 Aprile 2023 ADAR enzymes, RNA editing dependent and independent mechanisms driving human cancers Valentina Tassinari PhD, University of Rome “Tor Vergata” 23 Marzo 2023 A Mitochondrial Etiology of Complex Diseases Alessia Angelin, PhD Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (USA) Dicembre 1-2, 2022 China Meets the European Cell Death Organization & CDDpress "Tissue Microenvironment Homeostasis and Diseases" 25 Novembre 2022 Phosphatases as protein biologics and therapeutic targets for osteomalacia and arterial calcification José Luis Millán, Sanford Children's Health Research Center La Jolla, USA 13 Settembre 2022 The continuing quest to understand caspase-2 function as a tumour suppressor Sharad Kumar, PhD University of Adelaide, Australia Mechanisms controlling cell division and their de-regulation in cancer cells Pier Paolo D’Avino, PhD University of Cambridge, UK 16 Giugno 2022 1st Mini-Symposium on Nanomedicine Matching the physi-chemical characterizations of nanostructures with their biomedical functions in vitro and in vivo Xing-Jie Liang – Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Nanoscience (Beijing, P. R. China) 28 Aprile 2022 Immunogenic stress and death in cancer therapy Long-range effects of the intestinal microbiota on cancer immunosurveillance Prof. Guido Kroemer & Prof. Laurence Zitvogel Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus (Paris) 25 Marzo 2022 Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in cardiac physiology and disease Nina Kaludercic, PhD Neuroscience Institute National Research Council of Italy (CNR) Padova 17 Marzo 2022 Harnessing metabolic dependencies in cancer and inflammation Simone Cardaci, PhD San Raffaele Hospital, Milan 23 Febbraio 2022 Mechanics and regulation of cell division Pier Paolo D’Avino, PhD University of Cambridge, UK