Epigenetics of Aging & Cancer Lab
Our research team aims to understand basic and translational mechanisms driving aging-associated intestinal dysfunctions and diseases.
The Institution
We work at the Life Sciences and Systems Biology Department (DBIOS) of the University of Turin situated in the beautiful city of Turin in Northwest Italy just at the foot of the Alps.
The Lab
Our main laboratory is located at the Molecular Biotechnology Center (MBC) "Guido Tarone", a new fully equipped research center near to the center of Torino.
The International Network
We are affiliated with the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena (Germany), one of the main and oldest Research Centers for Aging Research within Europe.
Our mission
By employing state-of-the-art transcriptomic and epigenomic techniques, we are interested to dissect molecular mechanisms of intestinal aging in humans, mouse models and in vitro cultured intestinal and cancer organoids.
Technology
Single-cell RNA sequencing is the most powerful and novel technology to analysis cell population variations within a tissue or a mixed cell population. Together to functional genomic approaches, we use this methodology to investigate cellular phenotypes and transcriptional/chromatin differences at single-cell level.
Epigenetic drift and epigenetic clock
Aging is a multifactorial process characterized by a gradual accumulation of DNA methylation changes over the time (epigenetic drift). In the last 10 years, the scientific community realized that these small changes can be used to determine, with extremely accurate precision, a series of human characteristics, the most famous is the biological age of a specific organism that may differ from its chronological age.
We are interested in epigenetic drifts specific of the gut system that can be used for colon cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Knowledge Transfer
Diet is the primary non-invasive intervention to promote healthy aging. Dietary restriction, intermitting fasting, pre- and pro-biotics, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxydant food have been demonstrated to prevent and to cure organismal dysfunctions and diseases, including cancer, associated with the elderly.
Our group aims to identify and to develop novel dietary interventions to regulate gut microbiome dysbiosis, intestinal inflammaging, and colon cancer.
Who we are & What we do
Team
Human lifespan has been shown to have natural limit of ~120 years. But can we live better when get closer to the that point?
We are a group of cellular and molecular biologists, bioinformaticians and medical researchers interested in improving human health span.
Research Projects
How do we age? Why do we develop intestinal diseases, including cancer when we get old?
Which and how epigenetic alterations are accumulated over the time? How do they become detrimental for our gut system functionality?
Publications
Time is flying! Keep updated with our last scientific findings on intestinal aging and colon cancer!