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Advanced Light Microscopy

Microscopia Ottica Avanzata

Zeno Lavagnino

Technician

Zeno Lavagnino graduated in Physics from the University of Genoa in 2010. He began his microscopy career during his PhD in Alberto Diaspro’s lab at the Italian Institute of Technology, developing custom microscopes integrating single molecule imaging, two-photon excitation, and light-sheet illumination.
His interest in the interface between physics and biology led him to a postdoc in David Piston’s lab at Washington University in St. Louis, where he built a spectral light-sheet microscope to study whole islets of Langerhans.
In 2018, he received a Marie Curie Fellowship to join Davide Mazza’s lab at Ospedale San Raffaele, combining single-objective light-sheet microscopy with single-molecule tracking and structured illumination.
Since 2021, Zeno has been part of the IFOM Advanced Light Microscopy Facility, where he applies advanced microscopy approaches to cancer research.

Publications

Publications Pre-IFOM
  1. Mazzocca M, ….. Lavagnino Z. , Tacchetti C., Mazza D.
    "Chromatin organization drives the search mechanism of nuclear factors"
    Nat. Comm. 14(1) (2023)
  2. Abreu D, Asada R. Revilla JMP, Lavagnino Z, Kries K, Piston, DW, Urano F.
    "Wolfram syndrome 1 gene regulates pathways maintaining beta-cell health and survival"
    Laboratory investigation, 100(6), p.849-862 (2020)
  3. Verma M, Choi J, Cottrell KA, Lavagnino Z, Thomas EN, Pavlovic-Djuranovic S, Szczesny P, Piston DW, Zaher HS, Puglisi JD, Djuranovic S.
    "A short translational ramp determines the efficiency of protein synthesis."
    Nat Commun. 10(1):5774 (2019)
  4. Li S, Lavagnino Z, Lemacon D, Kong L , Ustione A, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Zheng B, Piwnica-Worms H, Vindigni A, Piston DW, You Z.
    "The Ca2+-CaMKK2-AMPK Axis Protects Stressed Replication Forks"
    Mol Cell. 20;74(6):1123-113(2019)
  5. Ferri G, Digiacomo L, Lavagnino Z, Occhipinti M, Bugliani M, Caracciolo G, Marchetti P, Piston DW, Cardarelli F.
    "Fingerprinting insulin secretory granules in living β-cells by fast spatiotemporal fluctuation spectroscopy"
    Scientific Reports 9(1):2890 (2019)
  6. Hughes JW, Ustione A, Lavagnino Z, Piston DW
    "Regulation of islet glucagon secretion: Beyond calcium"
    Diabetes Obes Metab. Suppl 2: 127-136 (2018)
  7. Clark AL, Kanekura K, Lavagnino Z, Spears LD,  Abreu D, Mahadevan J, Yagi T, Semenkovich CF, Piston DW, Urano F
    "Targeting Cellular Calcium Homeostasis to Prevent Cytokine-Mediated Beta Cell Death"
    Sci Reports; 7(1), (2017)
  8. Lee J, Harris AN, Holley CL, Mahadevan J, Pyles KH, Lavagnino Z, Scherrer DE, Fujiwara H, Sidhu R, Zhang J, Huang SCC, Piston DW,  Remedi MS, Urano F, Ory DS, Schaffer JE.
    " Rpl13a small nucleolar RNAs regulate systemic glucose metabolism",
    Journal of Clinical Investigation, 126(12), (2016)
  9. Lavagnino Z, Dwight J, Ustione A, Thuc-Uyen N, Tkaczyk TS, Piston DW
    "Snapshot hyperspectral light-sheet imaging of signal transduction dynamics in in live pancreatic islets"
    Biophysical Journal, 111(2), (2016).
  10. Cranfill P, Sell BR, Baird MA, Allen JR, Lavagnino Z, de Gruiter HM, Kremers GJ, Davidson MW, Ustione A, Piston DW
    "Quantitative assessment of fluorescent proteins"
    Nature Methods, 13, (2016)
  11. Lavagnino Z, Sancataldo G, d’Amora M, Follert P, De Pietri Tonelli D, Diaspro A, Cella Zanacchi F.
    "4D (x-y-z-t) imaging of thick biological samples by means of Two-Photon inverted Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (2PE-iSPIM)"
    Sci Reports  6, 23923 (2016)
  12. Cella Zanacchi F, Lavagnino Z, Faretta M, Furia L, Diaspro A.
    " Light-Sheet Confined Super-Resolution Using Two-Photon Photoactivation"
    Plos One, 8 (7) (2013)
  13. Lavagnino Z, Cella Zanacchi F., Ronzitti E., Diaspro A.
    "Two-photon excitation selective plane illumination microscopy (2PE-SPIM) of highly scattering samples: characterization and application"
    Optics Express 21(5), 5998-6008 (2013)
  14. Cella Zanacchi F, Lavagnino Z, Perrone Donnorso M, Del Bue A, Furia L, Faretta M, Diaspro A
    "Live-cell 3D super-resolution imaging in thick biological samples"
    Nature Methods 8, 1047-1049 (2011)
Publications IFOM
  1. Ghisleni A., Bonilla-Quintana M., … Lavagnino Z., … Gauthier N.C.
    “Mechanically induced topological transition of spectrin regulates its distribution in the mammalian cell cortex”
    Nature Communications, 15(1), 5711 (2024)
  2. Popęda M., Kowalski K.,….. Lavagnino Z., … Maiuri P., Nastaly P.
    “Emerin mislocalization during chromatin bridge resolution can drive prostate cancer cell invasiveness in a collagen-rich microenvironment”
    Experimental and Molecular Medicine, 56(9), pp. 2016–2032 (2024)
  3. Rosso I., Jones-Weinert C., ….. Lavagnino Z.,… d’Adda di Fagagna F.
    “Alterntive lengthening of telomeres (ALT) cells viability is dependent on C-rich telomeric RNAs”
    Nat. Comm 14(1) (2023)
  4. Gioia U., Tavella S.,… Lavagnino Z.,… d’Adda di Fagagna F.
    “SARS-CoV-2 infection induces DNA damage, through CHK1 degradation and impaired 53BP1 recruitment, and cellular senescence”
    Nature Cell Biology,  25(4), pp. 550–564 (2023)
  5. Frittoli E.,Palamidessi A., … Lavagnino Z,….Scita G.
    “Tissue fluidification promotes a cGAS–STING cytosolic DNA response in invasive breast cancer”
    Nat Materials 22(5) (2023)
Zeno Lavagnino

Facility members

Dario Parazzoli, Head of facility

Sara Barozzi

Serena Magni

Fabrizio Orsenigo

Mattia Pavani

Reference PI:

Giorgio Scita