Michele TrabucchiCentre méditerranéen de médecine moléculaire (C3M) - Inserm / Université de Nice
Mes recherches
I am interested on identifying novel molecular mechanisms by which cells use to control gene expression program upon changes on microenvironmental cues, including pathological agents. In particular, in the recent decades my research focuses on those mechanisms in which small noncoding RNAs plays pivotal roles in controlling post-transcriptional programs of gene expression.
I started my research interests on the aforementioned topic in my first post-doc in 2002 in the National Cancer Center at the University of Genova, School of Medicine. I studied the regulation of mRNA half-life as an important cellular strategy to modulate gene expression response to extracellular signals.
In 2004, I moved to Dr. Michael G. Rosenfeld’s laboratory at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), to continue my post-doctoral work. Aim of the studies I conducted in Dr. Rosenfeld’s laboratory was to investigate and define molecular strategies that cells use to regulate their functions through both control of the half-life of critical transcripts and microRNAs (miRNAs)-mediated degradation and/or translation inhibition.
In March 2011, I have opened my own laboratory in C3M, INSERM U895 directed by Dr. Y. Le Marchand-Brustel at Nice Sophia Antipolis University thanks to the ATIP-Avenir program.
Mon projet ATIP-Avenir
MicroRNA biogenesis and function
The functional interaction between RNA-binding proteins and microRNAs by a combinatorial code of competition and synergy among all post-transcriptional modulators and binding sites is a fundamental principle of post-transcription gene expression control. In agreement with this principle, some RNA-binding proteins that associate with miRNA-target mRNAs can interfere with microRNA binding and function to either inhibit or enhance the miRNA mode of action in a dynamic fashion. This has led to the concept of a sequence microenvironment surrounding the RNA-binding or miRNA-binding sites, arbitrarily estimated of about 100 nucleotides, that plays an important role in controlling the metabolism of mRNAs.
My ATIP/Avenir project focused in dissecting the molecular mechanism underlying the interplay between microRNAs and RNA-binding proteins in physiologically relevant human cells, including macrophages and stem cells, and its dysregulation in human pathologies.