Senior Researcher
Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms Department
Tel. +39 081 5833251
e-mail filomena.ristoratore(at)szn.it
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=-uSFX5QAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
ERC sectors - Cellular, developmental and regenerative biology (LS3), Integrative biology: from genes and genomes to systems (LS2)
Settori scientifico-disciplinari - Biologia molecolare (BIO/11), Anatomia comparata e citologia (BIO/06)
Components
Coordinator for the SZN of the JPI Ocens Project "Deuteronoise: Characterization of maritime noise in different European basins and its impact on ecological relevant deuterostome invertebrates"
Research interests
Research in the Ristoratore’s group aim to study the mechanisms that regulate the embryonic development of ascidians with particular attention to the formation of the nervous system. In particular we are interested in understanding the role of some genes in the formation and evolution of sensory organs.
To answer these questions, we use various species of sea squirts, a group of organisms that have a very interesting phylogenetic position, in that they belong to the same phylum of the chordates to which men also belong to. Nevertheless, ascidians are much simpler organisms to study and allow dissection, through the use of multidisciplinary approaches ranging from high-throughput sequencing techniques (RNA-seq) to confocal microscopy (FISH, IHC) coupled to cell perturbation experiments like CRISPR/Cas9, of complex developmental mechanisms with a precision at the single cell level unprecedented in chordates.
The most used specie is the solitary ascidian Ciona robusta, but ascidian with a peculiar development characteristics (the molgulae) are also used representing a very important model for evolution of specific structures like sensory organs and notochord.
Selected Publications
Olivo, P., Palladino, A., Ristoratore, F., & Spagnuolo, A. (2021). Brain sensory organs of the ascidian Ciona robusta: structure, function and developmental mechanisms. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 2435.
Coppola, U., Kamal, A.K., Stolfi, A., & Ristoratore, F. (2020). The cis-regulatory code for kelch-like 21/30 specific expression in Ciona robusta sensory organs. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 903.
Racioppi, C., Coppola, U., Christiaen, L., & Ristoratore, F. (2019). Transcriptional regulation of Rab32/38, a specific marker of pigment cell formation in Ciona robusta. Developmental Biology, 448, 111-118.
Stolfi, A, Lowe, K.E., Racioppi, C., Ristoratore, F., Brown, C.T., Swalla, J.B., & Christiaen, L. (2014). Divergent mechanisms regulate conserved cardiopharyngeal development and gene expression in distantly related ascidians. eLife, 3, e03728.
Racioppi, C., Kamal, A.K., Razy-Krajka, F., Gambardella, G., Zanetti, L., di Bernardo, D., Sanges, R., Christiaen, A.L., & Ristoratore, F*. (2014). Fibroblast growth factor signalling controls nervous system patterning and pigment cell formation in Ciona intestinalis. Nature Communications, 5, 4830.
