Assistant Professor
University of Udine
Laboratory of Molecular Oncology
Dr. Carlo Vascotto is Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Udine, Udine (Italy). After the BS in Biology obtained in 2001 at the University of Trieste, Trieste (Italy), he started the PhD course in Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences at the University of Udine under the supervision of Prof. Gianluca Tell. During the PhD he joined as a visiting student the laboratory of Prof. Veronica Van Heyningen in Edinburgh (UK), at the MRC, Human Genetic Unit (2004) and later the laboratory of Prof. Sankar Mitra in Galveston, TX (USA), at the University of Texas Medical Branch (2006). In 2010, he was awarded a Fulbright Research fellowship and joined the laboratory of Prof. Mark Kelley at the Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN (USA). Since 2011 he is Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Udine.
As a PhD student and later as a post-doc his research interests dealt with the role played by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in modulating cell activity. ROS are considered to be highly toxic by-products of oxygen metabolism and with harmful biological effects. However, recent findings show that ROS act as signal transducing molecules with a significant role in the activation of transcription factors leading to gene expression in both physiological and pathological conditions. In this context, Dr. Vascotto used proteomic approaches to characterize molecular pathways involved in oxidative stress response in human cells, particularly in hepatocytes.
Recently he focused his research interests on the study of DNA damage, the mechanisms of repair in mammalian cells and, more specifically the role of the main human Apurinc/apirimidinic endonuclease (APE1) in physiological and pathological conditions. His projects are aimed at the study of the molecular mechanisms involved in APE1 trafficking within nuclei and mitochondria and the possibility to alter APE1 physiological localization to sensitize tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents.
Dr. Vascotto is author of 31 scientific publications (h-index of 15).
Selected publications:
Barchiesi A, Wasilewski M, Chacinska A, Tell G, Vascotto C. Mitochondrial translocation of APE1 relies on the MIA pathway. Nucleic Acids Research. 2015. In press.
Tell G, Di Piazza M, Kamocka MM, Vascotto C. Combining RNAi and in vivo confocal microscopy analysis of the photoconvertible fluorescent protein Dendra2 to study a DNA repair protein. Biotechniques. 2013 Oct;55(4):198-203.
Vascotto C, Lirussi L, Poletto M, Tiribelli M, Damiani D, Fabbro D, Damante G, Demple B, Colombo E, Tell G. Functional regulation of the apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 by nucleophosmin: impact on tumor biology. Oncogene. 2014 May 29;33(22):2876-87.
Vascotto C, Bisetto E, Li M, Zeef LA, D'Ambrosio C, Domenis R, Comelli M, Delneri D, Scaloni A, Altieri F, Mavelli I, Quadrifoglio F, Kelley MR, Tell G. Knock-in reconstitution studies reveal an unexpected role of Cys-65 in regulatingAPE1/Ref-1 subcellular trafficking and function. Mol Biol Cell. 2011Oct;22(20):3887-901.
Methodological approaches in proteomics
In this course students will learn the fundamental biochemical and biotechnological approaches to study proteins, the basic methods for differential display protein analysis, and most used approaches for the study of protein/protein interactions.
- Methods on Proteomics research (4h): sample preparation, 1-DE, 2-DE, differential display analysis, advanced method in proteomics (DIGE, ICAT, and SILAC);
- Functional Proteomics (4h): description of methods for in vitro (GST pull-down, co-immunoprecipitation) and in vivo (yeast two hybrid, FRET, and PLA) analysis of protein/protein interaction.