Fabio Marongiu

Department of Biomedical Sciences

Telephone: +39 070 675 8683

Personal webpage: here

Main areas of expertise: Regenerative medicine, Placental stem cells, Carcinogenesis, Aging, Clonal evolution.

♦ Main research topics

Regenerative Medicine: Our current research interests are focused on the use of placental stem cells, particularly amniotic epithelial cells, as a possible source for the regenerative medicine of the liver and other tissues/organs. Studies include the isolation and characterization of placental stem cells and their secreted products. Recent projects are focused on the regeneration of the retina using placental stem cells, for the treatment of Macular Degeneration.

Carcinogenesis: We are studying the role of tissue microenvironment in the development and progression of cancer, with a particular focus of the importance tissue pattern formation, cell competition, cell senescence and aging. We are also interested in studying clonal evolution of mutated cells in aging tissues and how shaping evolutionary trajectories could delay aging and prevent cancer formation.

Key publications:

Hill W, Lim EL, Weeden CE, Lee C, Augustine M, Chen K, Kuan FC, Marongiu F, et al. Lung adenocarcinoma promotion by air pollutants. Nature. 2023 Apr;616(7955):159-167. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05874-3.
Marongiu F, DeGregori J. The sculpting of somatic mutational landscapes by evolutionary forces and their impacts on aging-related disease. Mol Oncol. 2022 Sep;16(18):3238-3258. doi: 10.1002/1878-0261.13275.
Laconi E, Cheri S, Fanti M, Marongiu F. Aging and Cancer: The Waning of Community Bonds. Cells. 2021 Aug 31;10(9):2269. doi: 10.3390/cells10092269.
Laconi E, Marongiu F, DeGregori J. Cancer as a disease of old age: changing mutational and microenvironmental landscapes. Br J Cancer. 2020 Mar;122(7):943-952. doi: 10.1038/s41416-019-0721-1
Fanti M, Gramignoli R, Serra M, Cadoni E, Strom SC, Marongiu F. Differentiation of amniotic epithelial cells into various liver cell types and potential therapeutic applications. Placenta. 2017 Nov;59:139-145. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2017.03.020
Marongiu F, Serra MP, Doratiotto S, Sini M, Fanti M, Cadoni E, Serra M, Laconi E. Aging promotes neoplastic disease through effects on the tissue microenvironment. Aging (Albany NY). 2016 Dec 6;8(12):3390-3399. doi: 10.18632/aging.101128
Marongiu M, Serra MP, Contini A, Sini M, Strom SC, Laconi E, Marongiu F. Rat-derived amniotic epithelial cells differentiate into mature hepatocytes in vivo with no evidence of cell fusion. Stem Cells Dev. 2015 Jun 15;24(12):1429-35. doi: 10.1089/scd.2014.0532
Serra MP*, Marongiu F*, Marongiu M, Contini A, Laconi E. Cell-autonomous decrease in proliferative competitiveness of the aged hepatocyte. J Hepatol. 2015 Jun;62(6):1341-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2015.01.015
Marongiu F, Serra MP, Sini M, Angius F, Laconi E. Clearance of senescent hepatocytes in a neoplastic-prone microenvironment delays the emergence of hepatocellular carcinoma. Aging (Albany NY). 2014 Jan;6(1):26-34. doi: 10.18632/aging.100631
Marongiu F, Gramignoli R, Dorko K, Miki T […] Strom SC. Hepatic differentiation of amniotic epithelial cells. Hepatology. 2011 May;53(5):1719-29. doi: 10.1002/hep.24255