Fabio Marongiu
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Telephone: +39 070 675 8683
E-mail: fabiomarongiu@unica.it
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