Valentina Perissi, PhD

Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Expertise in Genomics, Cell Signaling, Mitochondria-nuclear Communication, Metabolism, Epigenetics

Dr. Perissi's research interests lie at the intersection of cell and molecular biology. The long-term goal of the Perissi Lab is dissecting the molecular basis of mitochondria-nuclear communication, and the role of mitochondria retrograde signaling pathways in mediating the crosstalk between metabolism and epigenetics. We aim at elucidating the molecular mechanisms that control metabolic adaptation in response to changes in nutrients availability, cellular differentiation and oxidative stress, with a focus on adipose tissue and breast cancer cells. Ongoing projects revolve around two main areas: i) Mechanisms regulating mitochondria-nuclear communication and genomic regulation of the mitochondrial stress response; ii) Crosstalk between non-proteolytic K63 ubiquitination and ADP-ribosylation in the regulation of mitochondria biology and adaptation to stress.

Techniques routinely employed in the lab include basic molecular biology and biochemical approaches (site-specific mutagenesis, CRISPR editing, gene expression analyses, protein-protein interaction studies, in vitro enzymatic assays), next generation sequencing (ChIPseq, RNAseq, GROseq) and in vivo studies (tissue-specific knock-out mouse models of GOI).

Valentina Perissi holds a Laurea (BSc/MS) in Molecular Biology from the University of Torino (Italy), a PhD in Molecular Pathology from the University of California San Diego, and postdoctoral training in Epigenetics, Endocrinology and Metabolism in Dr. Geoff Rosenfeld’s laboratory at UCSD.

Publications

  • Published 7/28/2026

    Sepulveda GP, Nawalaniec K, Nikorich I, Guschanskaia ES, Mora-Martin A, Esse R, Ceballos A, Xia C, Kwan J, Blum BC, Emili A, Cardamone MD, Perissi V, Costello CE, Grishok A. Proteolytic activation of c-MYC facilitated by DOT1L. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Aug 04; 123(31):e2525603123. PMID: 42520114.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/24/2026

    Mitra S, Burrone G, Rubarajan S, Klein C, Kwok T, Gutta S, Li KC, Berson E, Orofino J, Cardamone MD, Blower M, Perissi V. Spatial control of mitochondrial retrograde signaling by nuclear pore-associated contact sites. bioRxiv. 2026 Jul 24. PMID: 42539211.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/30/2025

    Ferrero G, Cardamone MD, Luca F, Bourk E, Ricci L, Liu W, Gao Y, Burrone G, Muhammad A, Chan S, Smith E, Fan TC, Cutrupi S, Garcia-Bassets I, De Bortoli M, Rosenfeld MG, Perissi V. Nonproteolytic ubiquitination regulates chromatin occupancy by the NCoR/SMRT/HDAC3 corepressor complex in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 May 06; 122(18):e2502805122. PMID: 40305047.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/31/2024

    Gao Y, Kwan J, Orofino J, Burrone G, Mitra S, Fan TY, English J, Hekman R, Emili A, Lyons SM, Cardamone MD, Perissi V. Inhibition of K63 ubiquitination by G-Protein pathway suppressor 2 (GPS2) regulates mitochondria-associated translation. Pharmacol Res. 2024 Sep; 207:107336. PMID: 39094987.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/9/2024

    Mitro N, Verdeguer F, Perissi V. Editorial: Epigenetics and metabolism. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024; 15:1373368. PMID: 38405145.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 40 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Member, BU-BMC Cancer Center
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University
  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University
  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • University of California, San Diego, PhD
  • University of Torino, BSc

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