SPICUGLIA Salvatore

Telephone
+33 (0)4 91 82 87 17
Fonction
DR1 INSERM
Status
HDR
Research Director
Diseases, phenotypes & models
Cancer
Cells
Human
in silico
in vitro
Research axes
A.1 - Bioinformatics and Genomics of Molecular Networks
A.1.2 - Discovery and functional dissection of Regulatory Elements
A.2 - Genetics and Genomics of Multifactioral Diseases
A.2.1 - Multi-omics approaches to dissect complex traits and diseases

Scientific and administrative responsabilities

Team leader on functional genomics and cancer
Team label LIGUE contre le Cancer

  • Member of the scientific committee from Fondation de France (Cancer panel) 
  • Member of the scientific committee from Canceropôle PACA 
  • Member of the scientific committee from LIGUE contre le Cancer (Hematology panel)

Research interests

I am a group leader in Functional Genomics at the TAGC since 2011. We convey together an interdisciplinary team of researchers and engineers with a wide range of skills (cellular and molecular biology, (epi)genomics, bioinformatics). We have a long-standing experience in genome-wide approaches to decipher epigenetic and gene regulation mechanisms at play during normal and pathological contexts. By identifying a class of cis-regulatory elements (called Epromoters) and processes behind epigenetics dysregulation in leukemia, the team has brought new insights into the gene regulatory field.
 

Key research interests

1. Epigenetics dynamics involved in oncogenic transformations and drug resistance.

2. High-throughput assessment of cis-regulatory activity using episomal reporters and CRISPR-based approaches.

3. Dissecting the Molecular basis of enhancer versus promoter function of Epromoters ain normal and pathological contexts.
 

Key publications

  1. Wan, van Ouwerkerk et al. Comprehensive mapping of genetic variation at Epromoters reveals pleiotropic association with multiple disease traits. Nuc Acid Res In press 
  2. Hussain S, Sadouni N et al. (2023). Short tandem repeats are important contributors to silencer elements in T cells. Nuc Acid Res 
  3. Zaugg et al. (2022) Current challenges in understanding the role of enhancers in disease. Nat Struct Mol Biol 
  4. Belhocine et al. (2022). Dynamic of broad H3K4me3 domains uncover an epigenetic switch between cell identity and cancer-related genes. Genome Res 
  5. Santiago-Algarra et al. (2021) Epromoters function as a hub to recruit key transcription factors required for the inflammatory response. Nat Commun
  6. Cieslak et al. (2020). Blueprint of human thymopoiesis reveals molecular mechanisms of stage-specific TCR enhancer activation. J Exp Med 
  7. Dao et al. (2017). Genome-wide characterization of mammalian promoters with distal enhancer functions. Nat Genet. 

Teaching

Module « Biologie des Systèmes », Master 2 Biochimie Structurale, Génomique, Aix-Marseille Université.

Module « Génomique Transversale », Master 2 Biologie Santé, Aix-Marseille Université.

Module «Epigenetics and gene regulation», Master 2 en génomique et protéomique fonctionnelles. Université Saint Joseph, Beyrouth, Liban.

Module « Atelier Bioinformatique » Master 1 Immunologie, Aix-Marseille Université.

Staff and student supervision

Current:
Yannan Fan (post-doc)
Nathalie Sakakini (post-doc)
Juliette Malfait (PhD student/Postdoc)
Gaelle Farah (PhD student, co-sup. S. Marquet, TAGC)
Junhua Su (PhD student)
Andrada Constantinescu (PhD student, co-sup. M. Perez, ABD)
Thomas Steimlé (PhD student, co-sup. V Asnafi, Necker, Paris)
Amélie Escandell (Engineer, co-sup. S. Marquet, TAGC)
Iris Manosalva (Research Engineer, ABD)
Magali Torres (Engineer, shared)

Past:
Jing Wan (PhD student) / Francesco Leonetti (PhD student, co-sup. M. Perez - ABD) / José David Abad (PhD student; Research Engineer) / Yasmina Kermezli (Research Engineer) / Megan Charles Alfred (Engineer) / Antoinette van Ouwerkerer (post-doc) / Davide Cavalieri (Project Manager) / Saadat Hussain (PhD student; Research Engineer) / Nori Sadouni (PhD student) / Charbel Souaid (post-doc) / Himanshu Singh (post-doc) / David de Santiago Algarra (PhD student) / Guillaume Charbonnier (PhD student) / Alexandre España (PhD student) / Wiam Saadi (PhD student) / Yasmina Kermezli (PhD student) / Dao Thi Mai Lan (PhD student) / Evelyne Mathieu (post-doc) / Ariel Galindo (post-doc) / Laurent Vanhille (post-doc) / Aurélien Griffon (PhD student) / Mohamed Belhocine (PhD student) / Jaafar Aliomari (PhD student) / Aleksandra Pekowska (PhD student).
 

Collaborations

Vahid Asnafi (Onco-hematology lab, Necker Hospital, Paris, France)

Mileidys Perez (AdvancesBiodiesign, Lyon, France)

Charles Lecellier (IGMM/LIRMM/IMAG ; Montpellier, France) 

Jean Christophe Andrau (IGMM, Montpellier, France)

Angélica Santana (Morelos University, Cuernavaca, Mexico)

Mohamed Belhocine (Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain)

Romain Roncagalli (CIML, Marseille, France)

ENHPATHY Network (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019): https://www.enhpathy.eu

CRISPR screen action


Funding

ANR “Remedy” (2021-2024; Coor. P. Defossez, Univ. Paris)
ANR “Hu-Thy-L” (2021-2024; Coor. A. Toubert, IRSL, Paris)
ANR “LOWCO” (2023-2025; Coor. C. Lecellier, IGMM, Montpellier)
Team label Ligue Contre le Cancer (2023-2025)
ANR Single-team EnhProm (2023-2028). Coordinator
ANR LabCom DECIPHER (2025-2030). Coordinator
Fondation de France (post-doc fellowship)
LIGUE contre le Cancer (PhD fellowship)
FRM (MD-PhD fellowship)
 

External references

ORCID

Check my CV here

Full list of publications

Outreach publication: 
Spicuglia and van Ouwerker (2024) "How the dark genome enlightens the molecular mechanisms of diseases", Open Access Government 

Scientific blogs by Enhpathy’s students:
All eyes on enhancers
Enhancer-in-Art

Enhancer-in-art Pitchs: 

Podcast InScience:

Lab presentation from Fondation Bettencourt Schueller:


 

Author publications