Gian Gaetano Tartaglia

Centre de Regulació Genòmica

Life & Medical Sciences

* 2014 - ICREA Research Professor * 2013 ERC Grant * 2010 - Group Leader, Bioinformatics and Genomics Program, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona (Spain) * 2011 - Clare Hall Life Member, University of Cambridge (UK) * 2005-2010 - Postdoctoral Fellow, Clare Hall College, Chemistry Department, University of Cambridge (UK) * 2001-2005 - PhD, Biochemistry Department, University of Zurich, Zurich (CH) * 1996-2000 - MPhil Theoretical Physics, Statistical Mechanics, University la Sapienza, Rome (Italy)


Research interests

My main focus is to understand the role played by RNA molecules in protein networks. Characterizing protein-RNA associations is key to unravel the complexity and functionality of mammalian genomes and will open up therapeutic avenues for the treatment of a broad range of human disorders.  I aim to discover the involvement of RNA molecules in regulatory networks controlling protein production and I am interested in understanding mechanisms whose alteration lead to aberrant aggregation.  We have recently observed that interaction between proteins and mRNAs induce feedback loops that are crucial in protein homeostasis. We also found that specific proteins and RNAs phase separate in the cytosol and nucleus when their abundance is significantly high and we are investigating  how large assemblies formation affects cell function.

Selected publications

- Qamar S, Wang G, Randle SJ,... Tartaglia GG,... St George-Hyslop P 2018, 'FUS Phase Separation Is Modulated by a Molecular Chaperone and Methylation of Arginine Cation-pi Interactions', Cell, 173, 3, 720.

- Ribeiro DM, Zanzoni A, Cipriano A, Delli Ponti R, Spinelli L, Ballarino M, Bozzoni I, Tartaglia GG* & Brun C 2018, 'Protein complex scaffolding predicted as a prevalent function of long non-coding RNAs', Nucleic Acids Research, 46, 2, 917–928.*corresponding author

- Cid-Samper F, Gelabert-Baldrich M, Lang B, Lorenzo-Gotor N, Ponti RD, Severijnen LWFM, Bolognesi B, Gelpi E, Hukema RK, Botta-Orfila T & Tartaglia GG 2018, 'An Integrative Study of Protein-RNA Condensates Identifies Scaffolding RNAs and Reveals Players in Fragile X-Associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome', Cell Rep. 25(12):3422-3434.e7.

- Vendramin R,, Verheyden Y, Ishikawa H, Goedert L, Nicolas E, Saraf K, Armaos A, Delli Ponti R, Izumikawa K, Mestdagh P, Lafontaine DLJ, Tartaglia GG, Takahashi N, Marine JC & Leucci E 2018, 'SAMMSON fosters cancer cell fitness by concertedly enhancing mitochondrial and cytosolic translation', Nat Struct Mol Biol. 25(11):1035-1046.  

Selected research activities

  • Two post-doctoral researchers of the group, Benedetta Bolognesi and Teresa Botta Orfila, became PIs at IBEC and IDIBAPS, respectively
  • The group hosts a medical doctor, Alexandra Soriano, who carries out the doctoral studies together with the Hospital Clinic
  • Received a European Commission Horizon 2020 grant for algorithms on big data
  • Proposed by CRG for the Premi Nacional de Recerca