Professor of Neuropathology

 

 

Contact details:

Tel:	+44 20 7882 2585
Fax:	+44 20 7882 2180
Email:	s.marino@qmul.ac.uk
Address:	Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, 4 Newark Street, London E1 2AT, United Kingdom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biography

Silvia Marino is Professor of Neuropathology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London and also Honorary Consultant Neuropathologist at Barts and The London NHS Trust. After studying Medicine at the University of Turin in Italy, Professor Marino trained in Neuropathology and Histopathology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. She trained in molecular genetics with Professor Anton Berns at The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam as a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow of the European Community studying the role of the tumour suppressor Rb and p53 in the pathogenesis of medulloblastoma in genetically engineered mouse models. She established her own laboratory research group in 2002 firstly at the Institute of Pathology, University of Zurich and then since 2006 at the Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science in London.

 

Research Activity

The focus of the Marino research group is on the biology of stem cells and progenitor cells, on the pathways and genes involved in control of their maintenance, proliferation and differentiation, in particular the Polycomb group genes. We have developed a collection of genetically engineered mouse models and cellular assays derived thereof to study signalling mechanisms and transcriptional programme regulating self-renewal of stem cells. We are particularly interested in assessing how fine tuning of the expression of these genes can be exploited to enhance the regenerative function of stem cells in ageing and disease. We currently work with two model systems, the brain and the skeletal muscle.

Moreover we are investigating the role of deregulated self-renewal mechanisms in initiation and progression of brain tumours –medulloblastomas and glioblastomas- in experimental models and in human tumour samples.

 

Key Publications:

• G. Yadirgi, V. Leinster, S. Acquati, H. Bhagat, O. Shakhova and S. Marino. Conditional activation of Bmi1 expression regulates self-renewal, apoptosis and differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells in vitro and in vivo. Stem Cells. 2011 Feb 8. doi: 10.1002/stem.614. [Epub ahead of print]
• T. Subkhankulova, X. Zhang, C. Leung and S. Marino. Bmi1 directly represses p21Waf1/Cip1 in Shh-induced proliferation of cerebellar granule cell progenitors. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2010 Oct;45(2):151-62. Epub 2010 Jun 20.
• R. Sutter, O. Shakhova, C. Sutter, S. Penkar, H. Bhagat, A. Santuccione, R. Bernays, F. L. Heppner, U. Schüller, M. Grotzer, H. Moch, P. Schraml and S. Marino. Cerebellar stem cells act as medulloblastoma initiating cells in a mouse model and a neural stem cell signature characterises a subset of human medulloblastoma. Oncogene 2010 Mar 25;29(12):1845-56.
• O. Shakhova, C. Leung, E. van Montfort, A. Berns and S. Marino. Lack of Rb and p53 delays cerebellar development and predisposes to large cell anaplastic medulloblastomas through amplification of N-Myc and Ptc2. Cancer Research 2006; 66 5190-5200
• S. Bruggeman, M. Lingbeek, P. van der Stoop, J. Jacobs, K. Kieboom, E. Tanger, D. Hulsman, C. Leung, S. Marino and M. van Lohuizen. Ink4a and Arf differentially affect cell proliferation and neural stem cell self-renewal in Bmi1 deficient mice. Genes & Development 2005; 19:1438-1443
• C. Leung, M. Lingbeek, O. Shakhova, J. Liu, E. Tanger, P. Saremaslani, M. van Lohuizen, S. Marino. Bmi1 is essential for cerebellar development and is overexpressed in human medulloblastomas Nature 2004; 428(6980):337-41

>> Publications since 2001

 

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