Postdoctoral fellow
Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms Department
Tel. +39 081 5833255
Fax: +39 081 7641355
e-mail filomena.caccavale(at)szn.it
Research interests
One of the key objective of our group is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the spherical vision in sea urchin. Sea urchins are able to respond to visual stimuli despite the absence of obvious eye-like structures. In these animals, visual process is charged on their tube feet, distributed over their spherical body, where photoreceptor cells (PRCs) are located. We are tooking advantage of new molecular biology technologies, such as gene editing CRISPR/CAS9 based and single-cell-resolution analysis, for the molecular and functional characterization of the PRC systems and for having a detailed picture of the molecular signature of the cell types involved in the process of vision.
Another important point of our research is to develop appropriate protocols of correlative microscopy in order to correlate gene expression analyses by in situ hybridization with the ultrastructure of the embryo/juvenile stage, not only of sea urchins but also of invertebrate marine organisms in general.
Selected Publications
Vassalli QA, Caccavale F, Avagnano S, Murolo A, Guerriero G, Fucci L, Ausió J, Piscopo M. (2015). New insights into protamine-like component organization in Mytilus galloprovincialis' sperm chromatin. DNA Cell Biol. 34(3):162-9
