Dr Marco Saponaro PhD

Dr Marco Saponaro

Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Associate Professor

Contact details

Email
m.saponaro@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@saponaro_m
View my research portal
Address
Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Saponaro is interested in characterising how RNA Pol II transcription and DNA replication are coordinated, and determining how defective transcription leads to increased genome instability. He develops his research combining whole genome analyses with functional studies.

Qualifications

  • MSc Medical Biotechnology (with honors), University of Bologna (Italy), 2004
  • PhD in Molecular Medicine, European School of Molecular Medicine (Milan, Italy), 2009
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) with merit, University of Birmingham, 2020

Biography

Over the last 15 years Dr Saponaro has built an expertise in characterising how deregulated transcription leads to increased DNA damage. Following his MSc in Medical Biotechnology at the University of Bologna (Italy), Dr Saponaro joined the FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology in Milan (Italy) for his PhD project, characterising the role of SRS2 and its post-translational modifications in the regulation of homologous recombination. Followingly, he joined the Svejstrup group in Clare Hall, at the London Research Institute (UK), now merged in The Francis Crick Institute. It was here that he developed a keen interest in transcription and RNA Pol II regulation, and established approaches that he has further developed as an independent group leader. For these studies he has integrated multiple genome wide assays to derive working hypotheses characterised into further molecular details. Dr Saponaro has established specific tools e.g. first genome wide approaches to measure transcription elongation rates, an assay to identify hotspot sites where transcription and replication pauses/stalls more frequently and publications attract ~150 citations per year. Because of his expertise, he has received invitations for multiple reviews, a protocol paper, and a news and views. Dr Saponaro research was supported by Birmingham Fellowship, Wellcome Trust Springboard award, and BBSRC project grants. 

Teaching

  • Co-lead of the MRes Cancer Sciences

  • Co-lead for the Epigenetics module on MSc Genomic Medicine

Postgraduate supervision

Positions are open for talented PhD applicants and we offer projects every year for the Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership (MIBTP).

Research

Research projects currently ongoing in the lab:

  • Determining how RNA Pol II transcription and DNA replication are coordinated during S-phase
  • Identification and characterisation of G2/M DNA synthesis determinants
  • Impact of single RNA Pol II subunits overexpression

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Wang, J, Pathak, S, Jones, M, Mao, J & Saponaro, M 2026, 'ATR activity regulates DNA replication and RNA polymerase II transcription during S-phase', iScience, vol. 29, no. 8, 116663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116663

Poovathumkadavil, D, Reynolds-Winczura, A, Skagia, A, Passaretti, P, Sadurni, MM, Kingsley, G, Leitner, A, Saponaro, M & Gambus, A 2025, 'CDK-driven phosphorylation of TRAIP is essential for mitotic replisome disassembly and MiDAS', Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 53, no. 13, gkaf530. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf530

Rojas, P, Wang, J, Guglielmi, G, Sadurnì, MM, Pavlou, L, Leung, GHD, Rajagopal, V, Spill, F & Saponaro, M 2024, 'Genome-wide identification of replication fork stalling/pausing sites and the interplay between RNA Pol II transcription and DNA replication progression', Genome Biology, vol. 25, no. 1, 126. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-024-03278-8

Mackay, HL, Stone, HR, Ronson, GE, Ellis, K, Lanz, A, Aghabi, Y, Walker, AK, Starowicz, K, Garvin, AJ, Van Eijk, P, Koestler, SA, Anthony, EJ, Piberger, AL, Chauhan, AS, Conway-Thomas, P, Vaitsiankova, A, Vijayendran, S, Beesley, JF, Petermann, E, Brown, EJ, Densham, RM, Reed, SH, Dobbs, F, Saponaro, M & Morris, JR 2024, 'USP50 suppresses alternative RecQ helicase use and deleterious DNA2 activity during replication', Nature Communications, vol. 15, 8102. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52250-4

Scaramuzza, S, Jones, RM, Sadurni, MM, Reynolds-Winczura, A, Poovathumkadavil, D, Farrell, A, Natsume, T, Rojas, P, Cuesta, CF, Kanemaki, MT, Saponaro, M & Gambus, A 2023, 'TRAIP resolves DNA replication-transcription conflicts during the S-phase of unperturbed cells', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 5071. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40695-y

De, S, Edwards, DM, Dwivedi, V, Wang, J, Varsally, W, Dixon, HL, Singh, AK, Owuamalam, PO, Wright, MT, Summers, RP, Hossain, MN, Price, EM, Wojewodzic, MW, Falciani, F, Hodges, NJ, Saponaro, M, Tanaka, K, Azzalin, CM, Baumann, P, Hebenstreit, D & Brogna, S 2022, 'Genome-wide chromosomal association of Upf1 is linked to Pol II transcription in Schizosaccharomyces pombe', Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 350-367. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab1249

Bayley, R, Borel, V, Moss, R, Sweatman, E, Ruis, P, Ormrod, A, Goula, A, Mottram, R, Stanage, T, Hewitt, G, Saponaro, M, Stewart, G, Boulton, S & Higgs, M 2022, 'H3K4 methylation by SETD1A/BOD1L facilitates RIF1-dependent NHEJ', Molecular Cell, vol. 82, no. 10, pp. 1924-1939.e10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2022.03.030

Saponaro, M 2022, 'Transcription–replication coordination', Life, vol. 12, no. 1, 108. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12010108

Wang, J, Rojas, P, Mao, J, Muste Sadurni, M, Garnier, O, Xiao, S, Higgs, M, Garcia, P & Saponaro, M 2021, 'Persistence of RNA transcription during DNA replication delays duplication of transcription start sites until G2/M', Cell Reports, vol. 34, no. 7, 108759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108759

Wang, J & Saponaro, M 2021, 'Protocol for analysis of G2/M DNA synthesis in human cells', STAR Protocols, vol. 2, no. 2, 100570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100570

Comment/debate

Saponaro, M 2024, 'Adding a transcription-coupled repair pathway', Nature Cell Biology, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 670-671. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-024-01399-7

Preprint

Scaramuzza, S, Muste Sadurni, M, Poovathumkadavil, D, Natsume, T, Rojas, P, Kanemaki, MT, Saponaro, M & Gambus, A 2022 'Ubiquitin ligase TRAIP plays an essential role during the S-phase of unperturbed cell cycle in the resolution of DNA replication – transcription conflicts' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.23.485338

De, S, Dwivedi, V, Wang, J, Edwards, DM, Varsally, W, Singh, AK, Dixon, HL, Wojewodzic, MW, Falciani, F, Hodges, NJ, Saponaro, M, Tanaka, K, Azzalin, CM, Baumann, P, Hebenstreit, D & Brogna, S 2021 'Genome-wide chromosomal association of Upf1 is linked to Pol II transcription in Schizosaccharomyces pombe' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.12.437332

Review article

Muste Sadurni, M & Saponaro, M 2023, 'Deregulations of RNA Pol II Subunits in Cancer', Applied Biosciences, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 459-476. https://doi.org/10.3390/applbiosci2030029

Wang, J, Sadurni, MM & Saponaro, M 2022, 'RNAPII response to transcription‐blocking DNA lesions in mammalian cells', The FEBS journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16561

View all publications in research portal