In the research group on Complex Systems led by Prof. Mario Nicodemi of Naples University Federico II, young theoretical physicists each day study the three-dimensional structure of spatial organisation mechanisms of chromosomes in the cell nucleus. This is a research filed that has significantly grown in the last decade and represents oe of the most interesting challenges of today’s international scientific panorama.
Thanks to innovative data analysis methods, we have contributed to understanding that chromosomes have a complex 3D architecture in the cellular nucleus, far from being casual. Each element of the DNA has an extensive remote contact network which regulates the activities of our genes, and the chromosomes have a hierarchical spatial organisation, as in pyramid structures.
Using state-of-the-art analysis methods, which combine physical polymer techniques, computer simulations, and analysis of new data bases, we have developed a new technology which can identify the molecular mechanisms behind the organisation of the chromosomes, or of smaller regions within them, and their functional implications. In this way, we can accurately reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of the genome and the structure of the contacts between genes and regulators.
In particular, with our methodologies we can forecast the effects caused by mutations of the DNA sequence, such as deletions, inversions and duplications, on the spatial organisation of the genome and their impact on the regulation of the genes.
This research has an enormous potential in biomedical applications: numerous diseases, such as cancer and congenital disorders, are associated with a poor spatial gene and regulator organisation in our genome. Our technologies can therefore open the way to the development of new diagnostic instruments, widening significantly the spectrum of today’s identifiable diseases.
These research activities, which are today at the border between life sciences and physics, are therefore fascinating both from an intellectual point of view, as they reveal the mechanisms behind the organisation of life, and because of the very interesting, and original, applicative possibilities which are opened in the field of advanced biomedicine.
Management Innovation is supporting the initiative of Prof. Nicodemi and his research team exploring the possibility of developing an entrepreneurial initiative in the advanced prenatal diagnosis sector. We say know more in the coming months.
