Melody Di Bona

Happy and honored to be the 2025 recipient of the Physical Cell Biology Early Career Award at the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social annual meeting! Thanks to the Physical Cell Biology subgroup & PRX Life for awarding my work on micronuclei&mitochondria (to know more about it come Feb 18 room 502B, 11.30!)

Mitochondria transform micronuclei in time bombs propelling cancer cells towards distant metastasis and therapy resistance!💣⏱️
But....
What is the evolutionary purpose of this mechanism? What makes micronuclei different from the primary nucleus? 🤔

Stay tuned to know more! 🙃

Micronuclear collapse from oxidative damage Chromosome-containing micronuclei are a hallmark of aggressive cancers. Micronuclei frequently undergo irreversible collapse, exposing their enclosed chromatin to the cytosol. Micronuclear rupture cat...

We discovered that micronuclei rupture because of proximity to mitochondria! Mitochondria leak Reactive Oxygen Species that alter nuclear export and protein oligomerization. ROS rupture micronuclei, and also inhibit their repair! (2/3)

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

How and why micronuclei rupture?

The answer to this long-lasting conundrum is in my first author paper published, together with its back-to-back companion from @stesantaguida.bsky.social lab, on Science. (1/3)