YAP/TAZ, HIPPO SIGNALING AND MECHANOTRANSDUCTION: ROLE IN STEM CELLS, REGENERATION AND CANCER.
POST-DOCTORAL and PhD Positions in Stefano Piccolo Laboratory

One Post-doctoral position and one PhD position are available in the laboratory of Stefano Piccolo (www.bio.unipd.it/piccolo).

We study how cells sense their environment and use this information to build and maintain tissues with specific form, size and function. We are also interested in how disruption of these homeostatic mechanisms leads to tumor formation, progression and metastasis, hoping to identify new routes for the treatment of incurable cancers. The transcriptional regulators YAP and TAZ, well known as mediators of the Hippo pathway, are at the centerpiece of these regulations.
We aim to expand on a particularly appealing aspect of YAP/TAZ regulation: cells are constantly informed about their position by the structural features of the tissues in which they are embedded (adhesion, shape, 3D architecture, mechanical context). These inputs are conveyed to individual cells by a YAP/TAZ-regulating mechanotransduction cascade, controlling critical decisions, such as proliferation, differentiation and preservation of somatic stemness. This is essential for tissue regeneration, ex-vivo expansion of stem cells as mini-organs (or organoids), and cell transformation.
We have also explored new mechanisms by which YAP/TAZ control somatic stem cell fates in normal tissues and tumors, including links between YAP/TAZ and epigenetics, oncogenes and growth factors’ signaling.
We adopt both hypothesis-driven and data-driven investigations, and use an interdisciplinary set of expertise, ranging from molecular, biochemical and cell biological tools to animal models, tissue engineering, material science and "omic" approaches.
We are located in the University of Padua (Padova), Italy, recently ranked the first research institution of the country. The lab is international and has a very friendly and collaborative atmosphere.
Padova is a lovely city, 20 miles from Venice in the North east of the country, with great food, history and beautiful architecture. See http://www.discoverpadova.com/index.php/en/.

2015 Zanconato F., Forcato M., Battilana G., Azzolin L., Quaranta E., Bodega B., Rosato A., Bicciato S., Cordenonsi M. and Piccolo S. Genome-wide association between YAP/TAZ/TEAD and AP-1 at enhancers drives oncogenic growth. Nat Cell Biol. 9, 1218-27.
2014 Piccolo S. Twists of fate: cells as mechanical machines. Scientific American 311, 74-81.
2013 Aragona M, Panciera T, Manfrin A, Giulitti S, Michielin F, Elvassore N, Dupont S and Piccolo S. A mechanical checkpoint controls multicellular growth through YAP/TAZ regulation by actin-processing factors. Cell 154, 1047-59.
2011 Dupont S, Morsut L, Aragona M, Enzo E, Giulitti S, Zanconato F, Le Digabel J, Forcato M, Elvassore N and Piccolo S. Role of YAP/TAZ in mechanotransduction. Nature 474: 179-183.

FOR INFORMATION please write to:
Stefano Piccolo
Dept. of Molecular Medicine,
University of Padua School of Medicine,
Viale Colombo 3, 3516 Padua, Italy
Email:
piccolo@bio.unipd.it
tel. +390498276098
PS: I will be in Japan for the Riken CDB symposium (http://www.cdb.riken.jp/sympo2016)