ALESSANDRO PALMA

EDUCATION
PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology - University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Department of Biology, Rome (Italy)
Master’s Degree in Biology (Bioinformatics) – Faculty of Science, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome (Italy)
Bachelor’s degree in Medical Biotechnologies – Faculty of Science, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila (Italy)

ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND SERVICE
05/2025-present: Assistant Professor (RTT) – Cell and Applied Biology (BIO/13) - Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Psychology, Division of Neuroscience
2025-present: Lecturer for the course “Biology” (BIO/13), B.Sc. in Orthopedic Techniques, Sapienza University of Rome – 2 CFU
2026-present: Lecturer for the course “Applied Biology” (BIO/13), B.Sc. in Techniques for Prevention in the Environment and Workplace Safety, Sapienza University of Rome – 3 CFU
2026-present: Lecturer for the course “Strategies of Analysis in Functional Genomics” (BIO/11), M.Sc. in Legal, Forensic and Criminological Psychology (LM-51 R), Sapienza University of Rome – 3 CFU
03/2023-05/2025: Research Fellow (RTDA) – Molecular Biology (BIO/11) - Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”
08/2021-03/2023: Postdoctoral researcher – Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCS– Rome, Department of “Onco-hematology, cell and gene therapy” and “Medical Genetics Laboratory and Translational Cytogenomics Research Unit”
11/2019-07/2021: Postdoctoral researcher – Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) – Pozzuoli (NA)

EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE
Editorial Positions:
Member of the Editorial Board for The Company of Biologists – Open Biology
Member of the Editorial Board for Springer Nature – Scientific Reports (Cell Biology)
Member of the Reviewer Board of the American Journal Experts (Research Square)
Associate Editor for Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences – Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics
Guest Associate Editor and occasional Editor for Frontiers in Immunology – Systems Immunology
Reviewer Positions:
Wiley – Clinical and Translational Medicine, Wiley – Advanced Science, Wiley – Mediators of Inflammation, Wiley – The FASEB Journal, Wiley - Immunity inflammation and disease, Cell Press - Cell Genomics, Cell Press – Helyion, Cell Press – STAR Protocols, BMC - Biology Direct, BMC - Journal of Hematology & Oncology, BMC - Infectious Diseases, BMC – Bioinformatics, BMC – Neurology, Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Frontiers in Bioinformatics, Frontiers in Pharmacology, Frontiers in Immunology, Springer Nature - Scientific Reports, Nature – Oncogenesis, Nature - Communications Biology, Springer Nature – Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, Springer Nature – Discover Oncology, Springer Nature – Journal of Neuroinflammation, Elsevier – Gene, Elsevier - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Elsevier - Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, Elsevier – Immunobiology, BMJ - Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Macrophage heterogeneity
Microglia and neuroinflammation
Neuromuscular disorders
Single-cell RNA sequencing
Computational genomics and systems biology
Immunogenomics
Multi-omics data integration

PROJECTS
• 2025-2026. Project: “Elucidating the role of SPP1-high microglia in neurodegeneration (MIMIC-SPP1)”
Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Psychology – Division of Neuroscience, Rome (Italy). GRANT N°: B83C25004290005
• 2023-2025. Project: “Study of the impact of lncRNA and circRNA alterations on neuromuscular signal transmission and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis”.
Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”, Rome (Italy)
• 2021-2023. Project: “Investigating the role of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)-derived exosomes in tumor growth and invasion”.
Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCS, “Department of Onco-hematology, cell and gene therapy” and “Department of translational cytogenomics”, Rome (Italy)
• 2019-2021. Project: “Study of the modulation of the ER-phagy in cells and tissues with the Keima reporter. Proteomics and RNA sequencing data analysis”.
InstitutionTelethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, Pozzuli (Italy)

PUBLICATIONS
Publications as a prominent author
1. Long Non-Coding RNAs, Human Health, and Diseases
A. Palma. Springer Nature, Book Chapter, “Long Noncoding RNAs and Human Genome”. doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-19668-2
2. A cross-disease microglial transcriptional program characterizes neurodegeneration and highlights Spp1 as a biomarker
A. Palma, et al. GLIA. 2026: doi: 10.1002/glia.70163
3. The Landscape of SPP1+ Macrophages Across Tissues and Diseases: A Comprehensive Review
A. Palma. Immunology. 2025; doi: 10.1111/imm.13952
4. Genome biology of long non-coding RNAs in humans: a virtual karyotype
A. Palma, et al. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. 2025; doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2025.01.026
5. SPP1 macrophages across diseases: a call for reclassification?
A. Palma, et al. The FASEB Journal. 2025; doi: 10.1096/fj.202403227R
6. Signaling regulation of FAM134-dependent ER-phagy in cells
A. Palma, A. Reggio. Journal of Cellular Physiology. 2024; doi: 10.1002/jcp.31492
7. Macrophages and autophagy: partners in crime
A. Vitaliti, A. Reggio, A. Palma. The FEBS Journal. 2024; doi: 10.1111/febs.17305
8. Integration of single-cell datasets depicts profiles of macrophages and fibro/adipogenic progenitors in dystrophic muscle
A. Vitaliti, A. Reggio, A. Palma. Experimental Cell Research. 2024 Aug 5;442(1):114197. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2024.114197
9. Transcriptional profiling of human brain cortex identifies novel lncRNA-mediated networks dysregulated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
A. Palma, M. Ballarino. bioRxiv. 2024 doi: 10.1101/2024.03.18.585481. (in revision on Helyion)
10. Exploring the landscape of tools and resources for the analysis of long non-coding RNAs
M. Ballarino, A. Palma. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. 2023, 09, 21. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.09.041
11. Integrating Patient-Specific Information into Logic Models of Complex Diseases: Application to Acute Myeloid Leukemia
A. Palma, M. Iannuccelli, et al. Journal of Personalized Medicine. 2021 11(2), 117; doi: 10.3390/jpm11020117
12. Adipogenesis of Skeletal Muscle Fibro/Adipogenic Progenitors is Controlled by the WNT5a/GSK3/β-Catenin Axis
A. Reggio*, M. Rosina*, A. Palma*, et al. Cell Death and Differentiation. 2020 Oct;27(10):2921-2941. doi: 10.1038/s41418-020-0551-y
13. Myo-REG: A Portal for Signaling Interactions in Muscle Regeneration
A. Palma, et al. Frontiers in Physiology September 2019. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.01216
14. Gene regulatory network modeling of macrophage differentiation corroborates the continuum hypothesis of polarization states
A. Palma, et al. Frontiers in Physiology 2018; 9: 1659. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01659

Publications as a collaborator
1. A 3D skeletal muscle system for disease modelling and secretome profiling of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
M. Zouhair, M. Cosentino, L. Apa et al. Skeletal muscle. 2026. doi: 10.1186/s13395-026-00423-8
2. Ribosome Quality Control Mitigates Proteotoxic Stress in Aneuploid Cells
S. Viganò, et al. bioRxiv. 2026 (in revision on EMBO Journal, invited resubmission). doi: 10.64898/2026.01.19.700285
3. Recapitulating the human myotendinous junction in vitro using a 3D bioprinted model
F. De Paolis, et al. Biofabrication. 2026, Feb 5;18(1). doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ae3d86
4. The Molecular Signature of Astrocyte Response to Hypoxia Outlines the Metabolic and Cell Survival Mechanisms for Neuroprotection
R. Stefanelli, et al. Neurochemical Research – 2026, 51 (1), 44. doi: 10.1007/s11064-025-04643-0
5. Long noncoding RNA HSCHARME is altered in human cardiomyopathies and promotes stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation by splicing regulation
G. Buonaiuto, et al. Nature Communications – 2025 Aug 23. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62754-2
6. Effect of the cardiac long non-coding RNA Charme depletion on the maturation and paracrine signaling of resident cardiac fibroblasts
E. Floris, et al. Cell Death and Disease (IN PRESS)
7. The MYC-dependent lncRNA MB3 inhibits apoptosis in Group 3 Medulloblastoma by regulating the TGF-b pathway via HMGN5
A. Grandioso, et al. Cell Death and Disease – 2025 Nov 6;16(1):800 doi: 10.1038/s41419-025-08097-8
8. Sestrin2 drives ER-phagy in response to protein misfolding
C. De Leonibus, M. Maddaluno, et al. Developmental Cell. 2024 Aug 19;59(16):2035-2052.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2024.07.004
9. Inhibition of exosome biogenesis affects cell motility in heterogeneous sub-populations of paediatric-type diffuse high-grade gliomas
G. Pericoli, et al. Cell & Bioscience. 2023 Nov 13;13(1):207. doi: 10.1186/s13578-023-01166-5
10. A New Insight into MYC Action: Control of RNA Polymerase II Methylation and Transcription Termination
F. Scagnoli, et al. Biomedicines. 2023, 11(2), 412; doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11020412
11. An Update on Circular RNA in Pediatric Cancers
A. Galardi, et al. Biomedicines. 2023, 11, 36. Doi: 10.3390/ biomedicines11010036
12. Inter and Intra-tumour Heterogeneity of Paediatric-type Diffuse High-Grade Glioma Revealed by Single-Cell Mass Cytometry
L. L. Petrilli, et al. Frontiers in Oncology. 2022 Dec 08. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1016343
13. Phosphorylation of FAM134C by CK2 controls starvation induced ER-phagy
G. Di Lorenzo, F. Iavarone, et al. Science Advances. 2022 Sep 2;8(35):eabo1215. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo1215
14. Ejection of damaged mitochondria and their removal by macrophages ensure efficient thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue
M. Rosina, et al. Cell metabolism. 2022 Apr 5;34(4):533-548.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2022.02.016
15. Crosstalk between cilia and autophagy: implication for human diseases
M. Morleo, et al. Autophagy. 2022 May 25;1-20. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2022.2067383
16. MAPK15 Protects from Oxidative Stress-Dependent Cellular Senescence by Inducing the Mitophagic Process
L. Franci, et al. Aging Cell. 2022 Jun 1;e13620. doi: 10.1111/acel.13620
17. Skeletal Muscle Subpopulation Rearrangements upon Rhabdomyosarcoma Development through Single-Cell Mass Cytometry
L. L. Petrilli, et al. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2021, 10(4), 823; doi: 10.3390/jcm10040823
18. SCA-1 micro-heterogeneity in the fate decision of dystrophic fibro/adipogenic progenitors
G. Giuliani, et al. Cell Death and Disease. 2021 12, 122. doi: 10.1038/s41419-021-03408-1
19. Regulation of autophagosome biogenesis by OFD1-mediated selective autophagy
M. Morleo, et al. EMBO Journal. 2020 Dec 28;e105120. doi: 10.15252/embj.2020105120
20. High-Dimensional Single-Cell Quantitative Profiling of Skeletal Muscle Cell Population Dynamics during Regeneration
L. L. Petrilli, F. Spada, et al. Cells. 2020 Jul 18;9(7):1723. doi: 10.3390/cells9071723
21. SIGNOR 2.0, the SIGnaling Network Open Resource 2.0: 2019 update
L. Licata, et al. Nucleic Acids Research. 2020 Jan 8;48(D1):D504-D510. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz949
22. Metabolic reprogramming of Fibro/Adipogenic Progenitors facilitates muscle regeneration
A. Reggio, M. Rosina, et al. Life Sci Alliance. 2020 Feb 4;3(3):e202000646. doi: 10.26508/lsa.202000660
23. Janus effect of glucocorticoids on differentiation of muscle fibro/adipogenic progenitors
A. Cerquone Perpetuini, et al. Scientific Reports. 2020; 10: 5363 doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-62194-6
24. Critical nodes reveal peculiar features of human essential genes and protein interactome
A. Celestini, et al. Proceedings - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine, BIBM 2019. doi: 10.1109/BIBM47256.2019.8983221
25. CancerGeneNet: linking driver genes to cancer hallmarks
M. Iannuccelli, E. Micarelli, et al. Nucleic Acids Research. 2019 Oct 10. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz871
26. Statistical ensemble of gene regulatory networks of macrophage differentiation
F. Castiglione, et al. BMC Bioinformatics. 2016; 17(Suppl 19): 506. doi: 10.1186/s12859-016-1363-4