Luciano Di Croce

Luciano Di Croce

Centre de Regulació Genòmica

Life & Medical Sciences

1996 PhD Dept. Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Rome, Italy. 1996-2000 Postdoctoral work at the University of Marburg, Germany. 2000-2002 Senior Investigator at the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. 2003 Group Leader at the Centre de Regulació Genòmica (CRG), Barcelona, Spain. Research Professor, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA). 2013 Elected EMBO Member. Luciano Di Croce is the coordinator of a new Marie Curie ITN project entitled “Chromatin architecture and Design – ChromDesign” (GA 813327) granted by the European Commission’s H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018 program.


Research interests

Epigenetic changes, such as histone modifications and DNA methylation, are common alterations in cancer cells. Our laboratory is addressing the molecular basis of epigenetic alterations during the early phase of the tumorigenesis process. The expression of onco-proteins in hematopoietic precursor cells provides a unique model system to follow the molecular step from a normal to a transformed cell on the level of gene transcription, nuclear structure and chromatin. More recently, Di Croce lab is interested in understanding how variations in the assembly of the Polycomb complexes occur and influence mES cell differentiation and animal development.  

Selected publications

- Blanco E, Gonzalez-Ramirez M, Alcaine-Colet A, Aranda S & Di Croce L 2020, 'The Bivalent Genome: Characterization, Structure, and Regulation', Trends In Genetics, 36, 2, 118 - 131.

- Martone J, Lisi M, Castagnetti F, Rosa A, Di Carlo V, Blanco E, Setti A, Mariani D, Colantoni A, Santini T, Perone L, Di Croce L & Bozzoni I 2020, 'Trans-generational epigenetic regulation associated with the amelioration of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy', Embo Molecular Medicine, e12063.

- Vizan P, Gutierrez A, Espejo I, Garcia-Montolio M, Lange M, Carretero A, Lafzi A, de Andres-Aguayo L, Blanco E, Thambyrajah R, Graf T, Heyn H, Bigas A & Di Croce L 2020, 'The Polycomb-associated factor PHF19 controls hematopoietic stem cell state and differentiation', Science Advances, 6, 32, eabb2745.

- Mocavini I & Di Croce L 2020, 'RNA closing the Polycomb circle', Nature Genetics, 52, 9, 866 - 867.

- Sanchez-Molina S; Figuerola-Bou E, Blanco E, Sanchez-Jimenez M, Taboas P, Gomez S, Ballare C, Garcia-Dominguez DJ, Prada E, Hontecillas-Prieto L, Carcaboso AM, Tirado OM, Hernandez-Munoz I, de Alava E, Lavarino C, Di Croce L & Mora J 2020, 'RING1B recruits EWSR1-FLI1 and cooperates in the remodeling of chromatin necessary for Ewing sarcoma tumorigenesis', Science Advances, 6, 43, eaba3058.

- Chammas P, Mocavini I & Di Croce L 2020. 'Engaging chromatin: PRC2 structure meets function'. Br J Cancer. 122(3):315-328.

- Jain P, Ballare C, Blanco E, Vizan P & Di Croce L 2020. 'PHF19 mediated regulation of proliferation and invasiveness in prostate cancer cells'. Elife. 9:e51373.

Selected research activities

Since 2015: co-organizer of the "The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology" (BIST) Master school

Since 2014, co-organizer of the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratories Summer course on "Chromatin, Epigenetics and Transcription"

Since 2012 Chair of the Graduate Programme at CRG

ERC Panel Member for 2016-2022