The “Dynamics of Biological Identities” team is dedicated to understanding how, in the context of environmental fluctuations, a robust and coherent cell type is established and maintained, and what conditions lead to its disruption and consequent pathology. To this end, we investigate the genomic, epigenomic, and proteostatic principles that enable cellular systems to reconcile stability, plasticity, and adaptation.
Our experimental models explore transitions of cellular identity, from the emergence of totipotency and the reconstruction of embryonic models in vitro to the analysis of identity barriers. In this framework, we position SUMOylation as a key post‑translational modification that guarantees the stability of cellular identity, whose dynamics modulate physiological and pathological transitions, notably in cancer and inflammation.
