Biology of CNS Pediatric Tumors

Research Activity

The Biology of CNS Pediatric Tumors laboratory is currently involved in different studies aimed at the characterization of the molecular basis of pediatric brain tumor aggressiveness and resistance to treatments. In particular, we recently generated and characterized both at the molecular and functional levels different chemotherapy-resistant models of medulloblastoma cells, describing the most relevant pathways potentially involved in sustaining therapy resistance. Accordingly, we are currently investigating the mechanisms of emergence, during the chemotherapy stimulus, of particular drug-resistant cell subpopulations (i.e. persister cells) through a single-cell multi-omic approach.
In parallel, it’s many years that our group is interested in characterizing the several microenvironmental cues that sustain brain tumor aggressiveness and therapy resistance, by investigating the role played by the hypoxic microenvironment and the extracellular matrix composition on brain tumor phenotype, with particular interest in the so called “cancer stem cells” subpopulation.