BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Seminars

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

seminar

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

Journal Club
04/04/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room D19 @14:30
Targeting cancer-associated fibroblasts/tumor cells cross-talk inhibits intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma progression via cell-cycle arrest Journal of Experimental & Clinical Research 43, Article number: 286 (2024)

Journal Club
04/04/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room D19 @14:30
iPLA2β-mediated lipid detoxification controls p53-driven ferroptosis independent of GPX4 Nature Communications 2021 12, Article number: 3644

Journal Club
21/03/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room Fleming @14:30
Zeb1 mediates EMT/plasticity-associated ferroptosis sensitivity in cancer cells by regulating lipogenic enzyme expression and phospholipid composition Nature Cell Biology 2024

Journal Club
21/03/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room Fleming @14:00
Dysregulation of MMP2-dependent TGF-ß2 activation impairs fibrous cap formation in type 2 diabetes-associated atherosclerosis Nature Communications 2024

Biochemistry talks 2025, Prof Sima Lev, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
05/03/2025 at 14:30-Room D29
Integrative approaches for detection e targeting Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Journal Club
21/02/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room 1A6 @14:30
AMPK Regulates Phagophore-to-Autophagosome Maturation Journal of Cell Biology 2023 Inhibition of PCSK9 potentiates immune checkpoint therapy for cancer Nature 2020

Journal Club
07/02/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room 1A6 @14:30
USP26 as a hepatitis B virus-induced deubiquitinase primes hepatocellular carcinogenesis by epigenetic remodeling Nature Communications 2024

Biochemistry talks 2025, Dr Maria Victoria Niklison Chirou, University of Bath, United Kingdom
22/01/2025 @16:00-Faculty of Medicine Room D19a
Role of lipid metabolism in medulloblastoma

Journal Club
10/01/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room 1A6 @14:30
An ILK/STAT3 pathway controls glioblastoma stem cell plasticity, Developmental Cell, 2024 59, 3197–3212

Journal Club
10/01/2025, Faculty of Medicine, room 1A6 @14:30
Reconstituted ovaries self-assemble without an ovarian surface epithelium, Stem Cell Reports 2023 Vol. 18 2190–2202

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
02/12/2024at 15:00, Room 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 |

Journal Club
Friday 19th April at 14:00, room 1B5
Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1;Nr5a1) regulates the formation of the ovarian reserve. PNAS 2023 Vol. 120 No. 32 e2220849120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2220849120

Journal Club
Friday 5th April at 14:00-Room 2B3
Lung endothelium exploits susceptible tumor cell states to instruct metastatic latency. Nat Cancer (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-023-00716-7

Journal Club
Friday 8th March at 14:00, room 1B3
Loss of phosphatase CTDNEP1 potentiates aggressive medulloblastoma by triggering MYC amplification and genomic instability. Nature Communications ( 2023)1 4:762

Biochemistry talks 2024, Prof Jo H. Zhou, Radbound University, Netherlands
28/02/2024 @10:00-Faculty of Medicine Aula Fleming
Dissecting gene regulatory network controlling epithelial cell fate determination in development and disease

Journal Club
23/02/2024 at 14:00-Room 2A2
Development of a MEK inhibitor, NFX-179, as a chemoprevention agent for squamous cell carcinoma Sci Transl Med. 2023 Oct 11;15(717)

Biochemistry talks 2024, Prof. Emre Sayan, University of Southampton, UK
14/02/2024 @15:00-Faculty of Medicine Room 1A5
The role of exosomes in the tumour microenvironment of colorectal cancer

Journal Club
Friday 9th February at 14:00-Room 2A2
Generation of three-dimensional meat-like tissue from stable pig epiblast stem cells, Nature Communications | ( 2023) 14:8163 1

Journal Club
26/01/2024
MTH1 protects platelet mitochondria from oxidative damage and regulates platelet function and thrombosis Nature Communications ( 2023) 14:4829

Journal Club
26/01/2024
ESCRT-dependent STING degradation inhibits steady-state and cGAMP-induced signalling

Journal Club
12/01/2024
Serine catabolism generates liver NADPH and supports hepatic lipogenesis https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00487-4

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