# Paola Scaffidi
**Paola Scaffidi** is a cancer epigenetics researcher who has led a tenured Cancer Epigenetics group in the Department of Experimental Oncology at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan since 2023, after establishing her laboratory in London in 2014.[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) Her career has followed one thread, the link between chromatin, gene-expression regulation, and disease, through four settings: inflammation, premature and physiological aging, stem-cell dysfunction, and cancer.[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) According to her IEO research profile, she is known for identifying the chromatin protein HMGB1 as a danger signal that triggers inflammation, for showing that the nuclear defects of premature aging can be reversed in cells, and for the concept of phenotypic inertia in cancer evolution.
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Current role | Tenured Group Leader, Cancer Epigenetics group, Department of Experimental Oncology, IEO Milan, since 2023[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) |
| Training | PhD, Open University of London, via the San Raffaele Institute, Milan, in Marco Bianchi's group; postdoc and staff scientist, National Cancer Institute, NIH, with Tom Misteli[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) |
| Signature work | "Release of chromatin protein HMGB1 by necrotic cells triggers inflammation", *Nature*, 2002[2](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00858) |
| Progeria reversal | 2005 *Nature Medicine*: splice correction removed up to 90% of truncated lamin A mRNA and normalized nuclei in more than 90% of cells[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1351119/) |
| Phenotypic inertia | 2022 *Cancer Cell*: epigenetically disrupted cells gain stress tolerance through "transcriptional numbness"[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610822004937) |
| Recognition | EMBO member, elected 2024[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) |
| Lab techniques | CRISPR genome editing, single-cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, CUT&Run/CUT&Tag, proteomics, molecular barcoding, mouse models[5](https://semm.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/template_Scaffidi.pdf) |
## Training and career
Scaffidi obtained her PhD from the Open University of London while working at the San Raffaele Institute in Milan in [Marco Bianchi](https://www.edgepedia.org/marco-e-bianchi)'s group.[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) She then moved to the United States National Cancer Institute in Bethesda to work in [Tom Misteli](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-misteli)'s laboratory, where her postdoctoral studies focused on Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome and how nuclear architecture affects genome function and aging.[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) As a staff scientist there she began a new line of work on how cellular reprogramming affects the initiation and maintenance of solid tumors.[6](https://memento.epfl.ch/event/epigenetic-mechanisms-and-intratumour-functional-h/)
In 2014 she established the Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, which became part of the [Francis Crick Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-crick-institute).[6](https://memento.epfl.ch/event/epigenetic-mechanisms-and-intratumour-functional-h/) ORCID records her Crick employment from 1 April 2015, and also lists employment at [University College London](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-college-london).[7](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3642-4193) The Crick laboratory was funded by the [Medical Research Council](https://www.edgepedia.org/medical-research-council) under grant FC001152.[7](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3642-4193) In 2023 she joined IEO in Milan as a Tenured Group Leader.[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/)
## HMGB1 and the danger signal
Her PhD work identified HMGB1, a chromatin protein, as a major danger signal released by damaged cells that alerts the immune system and triggers sterile inflammation.[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) The paper, published in *Nature* on 11 July 2002, showed that release of HMGB1 by necrotic cells triggers inflammation and has been cited about 4,197 times.[2](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00858)
## Progeria and nuclear architecture
Reversing a premature-aging phenotype in cells was the result of her 2005 *Nature Medicine* study. A morpholino oligonucleotide blocking the cryptic splice site activated in the *LMNA* gene removed up to 90% of the truncated lamin A mRNA, with half-maximal effect at about 7 µM.[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1351119/) According to a 2005 study in *Nature Medicine*, after treatment, more than 90% of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) fibroblasts regained normal nuclear morphology, and normal levels of lamin B, LAP2, and HP1α were restored in about 90% of cells.[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1351119/) Introducing wild-type lamin A did not rescue the symptoms, indicating that the mutant Δ50 lamin A acts in a dominant-negative way; rescue occurred independently of mitosis, which the authors took as proof of principle feasible even in nondividing tissues.[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1351119/)
A 2006 *Science* paper extended the finding to normal aging: the same cryptic splice site is used sporadically in healthy cells, producing age-related nuclear defects including altered histone modifications and increased DNA damage, and inhibiting the splice site reversed those defects.[8](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1127168)
## Cancer epigenetics: from H1.0 to phenotypic inertia
In 2016 her group reported in *Science* that production of the linker histone H1.0 is frequently switched off in many cancer types, and that reactivating it halted tumor growth; patients whose tumors had low H1.0 levels tended to do worse across a range of cancers.[9](https://www.crick.ac.uk/news/2016-09-29-genetic-switch-for-cancer-cell-immortality-revealed-%281%29) Loss of H1.0 causes DNA to unravel and activates genes that keep cells in an immature, dividing state; switching H1.0 back on forced cancer cells to mature and lose the ability to keep dividing, an effect described as a non-genetic and reversible layer of tumor diversity.[10](https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2016/09/29/flicking-the-switch-on-cancers-immaturity/)
According to the 2022 *Cancer Cell* paper, phenotypic inertia is the inability of a cell to halt proliferation and activate an apoptotic program in response to unfavorable environments.[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610822004937) Disruption of epigenetic control did not promote selection of genetically defined subclones or a plastic phenotypic switch; instead it prevented cells from mounting an efficient stress response, a property the paper named "transcriptional numbness".[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610822004937) Knocking out NELFA phenocopied epigenetic disruption and conferred a fitness advantage under stress, showing that sustained transcriptional activity upon stress is sufficient to confer phenotypic inertia.[4](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610822004937) A 2024 *Cancer Discovery* review, on which Scaffidi was a co-author, describes the experiment as a large-scale CRISPR test in which inactivation of over 100 epigenetic regulators converged on increased stress tolerance selected during tumor growth, and contrasts it with the plasticity hypothesis: disruption of epigenetic control did not enhance plasticity but blocked the transcriptional stress response.[11](https://aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscovery/article/14/1/36/732528/Cancer-Evolution-A-Multifaceted-AffairCancer)
## Representative work
**Release of chromatin protein HMGB1 by necrotic cells triggers inflammation**, *Nature*, 2002. The paper showed that necrotic, but not apoptotic, cells release HMGB1, which then acts as an inflammatory signal; it established a chromatin protein as a danger signal released by damaged cells.[2](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00858)
## The IEO laboratory
Her IEO group addresses how epigenetic deregulation corrupts cell function during tumorigenesis and how epigenetic mechanisms generate functional diversity within tumors.[12](https://www.research.ieo.it/research-and-technology/principal-investigators/paola-scaffidi/scaffidi-s-research-projects/) It studies how cumulative disruption of epigenetic control reduces network robustness, creating synthetic lethal vulnerabilities, with the aim of predicting epigenetic vulnerabilities from how a patient's regulatory network is disrupted.[12](https://www.research.ieo.it/research-and-technology/principal-investigators/paola-scaffidi/scaffidi-s-research-projects/) Techniques include CRISPR-based genome editing, single-cell transcriptomics, ATAC-seq, CUT&Run/CUT&Tag, proteomics, machine learning, next-generation molecular barcoding, in vivo functional assays, and mouse models.[12](https://www.research.ieo.it/research-and-technology/principal-investigators/paola-scaffidi/scaffidi-s-research-projects/) • [5](https://semm.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/template_Scaffidi.pdf) Molecular barcoding is used to identify epigenetic features that predispose subsets of cancer cells to survive therapy and drive relapse.[12](https://www.research.ieo.it/research-and-technology/principal-investigators/paola-scaffidi/scaffidi-s-research-projects/) As of 2026 the group comprised 1 group scientist, 3 postdocs, 5 PhD students, and 3 research fellows, with 5 foreign members.[5](https://semm.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/template_Scaffidi.pdf) Scaffidi coordinates EPIPROPER, a TRANSCAN-funded project using triple-negative breast cancer to identify epigenetically defined drug-tolerant persister cells and predictive biomarkers of response, with partners including [Institut Curie](https://www.edgepedia.org/institut-curie), the German Cancer Research Center, the Weizmann Institute, and the Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest.[13](https://transcan.eu/output-results/funded-projects/epiproper.kl)
## Recognition and invited roles
She was elected an EMBO member in 2024 and joined IEO's Research Council and Leadership Board.[1](https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/) She spoke on "Epigenetic dysregulation and cancer evolution" at the EACR Congress in the Cancer Genomics symposium on 18 June 2025,[14](https://dashboard.eacr.org/event/session/person/911385?eid=711) and gave an Institut Curie seminar, "Epigenetic dysregulation and cancer evolution: a network perspective", on 10 March 2026.[15](https://institut-curie.org/scientific-event/epigenetic-dysregulation-and-cancer-evolution-network-perspective-10-03-2026)
## References
1. Paola Scaffidi, IEO Research. https://www.research.ieo.it/paola-scaffidi/
2. Release of chromatin protein HMGB1 by necrotic cells triggers inflammation (Nature, 2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00858
3. Reversal of the cellular phenotype in the premature aging disease Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (Nature Medicine, 2005). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1351119/
4. Selective advantage of epigenetically disrupted cancer cells via phenotypic inertia (Cancer Cell, 2022). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610822004937
5. SEMM 2026 PhD call, Scaffidi project template. https://semm.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/template_Scaffidi.pdf
6. Epigenetic Mechanisms and Intratumour Functional Heterogeneity, EPFL seminar page. https://memento.epfl.ch/event/epigenetic-mechanisms-and-intratumour-functional-h/
7. Paola Scaffidi (0000-0002-3642-4193), ORCID. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3642-4193
8. Lamin A-Dependent Nuclear Defects in Human Aging (Science, 2006). https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1127168
9. Genetic switch for cancer cell immortality revealed, Francis Crick Institute. https://www.crick.ac.uk/news/2016-09-29-genetic-switch-for-cancer-cell-immortality-revealed-%281%29
10. Flicking the switch on cancer's immaturity, Cancer Research UK. https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2016/09/29/flicking-the-switch-on-cancers-immaturity/
11. Cancer Evolution: A Multifaceted Affair (Cancer Discovery, 2024). https://aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscovery/article/14/1/36/732528/Cancer-Evolution-A-Multifaceted-AffairCancer
12. Scaffidi's research projects, IEO. https://www.research.ieo.it/research-and-technology/principal-investigators/paola-scaffidi/scaffidi-s-research-projects/
13. EPIPROPER, TRANSCAN funded project. https://transcan.eu/output-results/funded-projects/epiproper.kl
14. Scaffidi Paola, EACR Congress 2025. https://dashboard.eacr.org/event/session/person/911385?eid=711
15. Epigenetic dysregulation and cancer evolution: a network perspective, Institut Curie seminar, 10 March 2026. https://institut-curie.org/scientific-event/epigenetic-dysregulation-and-cancer-evolution-network-perspective-10-03-2026
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in cancer biology › Cancer epigenetics and gene regulation*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license