Director

Prof. MARCO FOIANI Direttore

Email: direttore@igm.cnr.it
Phone number: +39 0382 546322

Profile

In 1988, Marco Foiani obtained his PhD in molecular and cell biology at the University of Milan discussing a thesis on the process of duplication of genetic material. After a short stint as a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Plevani and G. Lucchini, in 1989, Marco Foiani moved to the lab of Dr. Alan Hinnebush at NIH-NICHD, Bethesda in the USA for his post-doctoral studies and remained there until 1991. In 1991, when he was 30 years old, he returned to Italy to continue his research as an assistant professor at the University of Milan. With a small research group, he started his independent research career in the field of chromatin dynamics. He became an associate professor and subsequently a professor of molecular biology at the University of Milan in 1995 and 2001 respectively.
Marco Foiani was one of first scientists to join IFOM during its early gestational period. His genome integrity research lab started functioning in 2000 with the aim of unraveling the mysteries of cell cycle and various pathways that safeguard genomic integrity and play a role in oncogenesis.
In 2009, Marco Foiani became the scientific director of IFOM. In this position he was responsible for the research strategic planning, the development of programs aimed at translating basic research discoveries into practice and the establishment of national and international co-operation programs and joint ventures. Since 2009, he is also vice-president of CEN, the European Center for Nanomedicine, a multi- and interdisciplinary approach promoted by IFOM and aimed at developing cutting-edge scientific research based on integration of knowledge from different fields such as biomedicine, physics, chemistry, computer science or engineering.
Since 2012 he is the scientific director of COGENTECH, a benefit company owned by IFOM specializing in genetic cancer diagnostics. From 2021 onwards, he also serves as the President of COGENTECH. He has been a member of the editorial board of Cell (2009-2019) and is currently a member of the Academia Europea and EMBO.
Marco Foiani's major contributions are within the fields of chromosome dynamics and genome integrity. His work has contributed to elucidate the ATR and ATM-dependent checkpoint processes controlling the interfaces between DNA replication, recombination, transcription and DNA topology and preventing abnormal chromosome transitions. In recent years, focus of his research has geared more towards the connections between cell metabolism and genome integrity pathways and between chromosome dynamics and mechano-transduction circuits controlling cell and nuclear plasticity.
Marco Foiani has received numerous international awards and recognitions throughout his career, and has published over 90 scientific articles in prestigious international journals, such as Nature, Science, and Cell.