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Marco A. Zago Full Professor of Hematology, FMRP/USP marazago@usp.br |
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Education | 1965-1970 Graduated in Medicine, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, FMRP-USP, Brazil. 1971-1973 Master in Clinical Medicine, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, FMRP-USP, Brazil. 1973-1975 PhD in Clinical Medicine, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, FMRP-USP, Brazil. 1976-1977 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Oxford University 1981 Full Professor, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, FMRP-USP, Brazil |
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Research Interests | Somatic and Pluripotent Stem Cells Cancer and Leukemia Functional Genomics microRNA and Transcription Factors |
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Research Overview | In the last few years, we have addressed the characterization of somatic stem cells, including Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) and Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) from different sources, to study the molecular basis of their specific biological characteristics, as well as to provide evidence for their distribution and in vivo role. In fact, we have helped to establish the concept that MSCs occupy a perivascular niche throughout the body, closely resembling pericytes, providing a cell repository for tissue repair and also playing important roles in the maintenance of peripheral immunehomeostasis. In that sense, we provided evidence of a new immunomodulatory mechanism exerted by MSC in response to inflammatory stimuli derived from activated T lymphocytes (Saldanha-Araujo et.al. 2011). Moreover, our results points to a role of MSCs in the modulation of NF-kB signaling in activated T lymphocytes, switching from a canonical pro-inflammatory to a non-canonical immunoregulatory role (Saldanha-Araujo et.al. 2011b). We have also provided evidence for the role of non-canonical NF-kB signaling in the characteristic molecular features of HSC derived from Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB), as compared to Bone Marrow (BM). We are currently starting to address the molecular mechanisms by which MSC become activated to exert their immunomodulatory properties, upon treatment with pro-inflammatory stimuli (a mechanism generally referred as MSC “licensing” or “conditioning”). Finally, we are currently using synthetic pre-miRs and anti-miRs to explore the roles of microRNAs in the regulation of distinct stem cell characteristics (including pluripotency, differentiation, self-renewal, among others), and to identify functionally-relevant microRNA targets (trough coupled microarray profiling). | |
Lab Staff |
Laboratory Coordinator Fellows Researchers Molecular Biology Technicians |
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Collaborators |
Vanderson Rocha, PhD, MD (Hosp. Sírio Libanês, SP). Felipe Saldanha Araujo, PhD (UNB, Brasília-DF). Francisco de Paula Careta, PhD (UFES, -ES). |
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International Collaborators |
Jaques Elion Eliane Gluckman Carlos Martinez-A Stephen Spellman |
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Facilities Coordination | Agilent 48-slides auto-loader High-Density Microarray Scanner and Axon GenePix 4000B (Molecular Devices). | |
Selected Publications |
1. Saldanha-Araujo F., Haddad R., Malmegrim de Farias K.C., Alves Souza A.D., Palma P.V., Araujo A.G., Orellana M.D., Voltarelli J.C., Covas D.T., Zago M.A., Panepucci RA Mesenchymal stem cells promote the sustained expression of CD69 on activated T-lymphocytes: roles of canonical and non-canonical NF-kappaB signaling. Journal of cellular and molecular medicine. 2011a Jul 21. |
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