Roberto Perego - Associate Professor


Department and institution: Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano Bicocca
roberto.perego@unimib.it
tel. +39 02 6448 8303
Curriculum Vitae
institutional profile page: UNIMIB
other related links: BOA

Keywords: Renal Cell Carcinoma Clear Cell; Renal Adult Stem Cells; Renal Primary Cell Cultures; Diabetic Nephropathy; Arg/Abl2 Non Receptor Tyrosine Kinase

Research interests

    Researches conducted and supervised on kidney diseases, with the aim to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms and translate the knowledge to the management of patients.

The researches are focused on:

    - Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) combining cellular, molecular, genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic approaches. In human primary cell cultures, from normal kidney and RCC tissues, has been shown the differential expression of gene products. Currently in these cultures are performed functional studies to characterize the pathways involved in the RCC metabolism and identify new therapeutic targets.
    - Characterization of resident renal stem cell and renal cancer stem cell (CSC) that may have clinical relevance in regenerative medicine, and for detecting new markers and developing new therapies against CSC. The functional approach based on “sphere forming assay” permitted to produce nephrospheres. The renal stem cells evidenced and isolated by the fluorescent PKH dye (PKHhigh) are able to differentiate into epithelial, podocytic and epithelial lineage, and now are studied to obtain a stem signature and to evaluate their regenerative potential. The renal stem cell will also help to give more information about the CSC compartment.
    - Involvement of tubular cells in tubulointerstitial fibrosis that characterize diabetic nephropathy. Primary cultures of human tubular epithelial cells are grown with high glucose concentration to evaluate the molecular changes related to a fibrogenic effect. In this context is also studied the Arg/Abl2 non receptor tyrosine kinase that with its 8 isoforms is involved in cellular migration and cytoskeleton modulation.

Curriculum vitae

Education

    - 1977 M.D. at the University of Milano, School of Medicine.
    - 1978 Resident in Internal Medicine, Niguarda Hospital, Milano
    - 1980 Specialist in Clinical and Laboratory Hematology, University of Milano.
    - 1985 Specialist in Oncology, University of Pavia

Major appointments

    - 1980-'82, Research fellow, Institute of General Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Milan.
    - 1984-'99, Assistant Professor in the Institute of General Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Milan.
    - 1987-'89, Guest Researcher at the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
    - 1989-'90, Visiting Scientist in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, NCI-NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
    - 1995-'99, Responsible of molecular biology activities in the Hematology Division at Niguarda Hospital, Milano
    - 1999-'02, Assistant Professor in the Department of Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Milano-Bicocca.
    - 2002-present, Associate Professor of General Pathology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Milano-Bicocca University.
    - 2000-present, Head, laboratory of Oncology/Molecular Pathology in the Department of Health Sciences, Milano-Bicocca University.
    - 2004-present, Faculty member of the board of PhD program in Translational Medicine (DIMET) of Milano-Bicocca University and of post-graduate specialization school of Oncology and of Radiotherapy at Milano-Bicocca University.
    - since 1990, Teaching activities include regular courses of General Pathology and Oncology in the School of Medicine of Milano University and Milano-Bicocca University. Invited speaker in national and international meetings.

Societies

    - Italian Society of Pathology and Translational Medicine (SIPMeT).
    - European Association of Cancer Research (EACR).
    - American Society of Hematology (ASH).

Scientific journals

    Member of Editorial Board of International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology
    Reviewer of Eur J Cancer, Eur Urology, J Proteome Res, Oncogene, Int J Cancer

Funded projects

    Project leader or responsible of operative units or research groups in several research projects funded by private or government agencies: AIRC 1992, 1993; ACRO 1995; COFIN 2001; FIRB 2001; PRIN 2004; Cariplo 2004; PRIN 2006; FIRB 2007; Cariplo-Regione Lombardia 2010

Scientific interests

    Cellular, molecular, genomic and proteomic characteristics of renal cell carcinoma.
    Characterization of primary cell cultures from human kidney and renal cell carcinoma.
    Identification and characterization of resident renal stem cells and cancer stem cell of renal cell carcinoma.
    Effects of high glucose concentration on renal tubular cells.
    Molecular biology of human non receptor tyrosine kinase, participation in the cloning of ARG (ABL2) gene.
    Microsatellite alterations and plasma DNA in renal cell carcinoma patients.
    Role of gene polymorphisms in human disease.
    Molecular evaluation of minimal residual disease of hematological neoplasms (study of BCR/ABL, PML/RARa, IgH/Bcl2 rearrangements).
    Tumor biochemistry and enzymology of experimental hepatomas (study of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases).


last update: January 2018