Dr Sara Badodi, PhD

Profile

Sara Badodi did her PhD in Molecular and Regenerative Medicine at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Soon after completing her PhD project on childhood rhabdomyosarcoma, a tumour originating in muscle, she joined the group of Prof. Silvia Marino at Queen Mary University of London, in the Centre for Genomics and Child Health in the Blizard Institute. Here she studied the role of epigenetic modifications in medulloblastoma as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a research fellow founded by Brain Tumour Research. She then became Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Brain Tumour Epigenetics in the Blizard Institute.

Teaching

Lectures on Epigenetics for:
MSc Regenerative Medicine
MSc Neuroscience and Translational Medicine 

PBL facilitator for MBBS program (Fundamental of Medicine, Human Development, Brain and Behavior)   

Module co-lead:
ICMM931 – Neuro-Oncology Module, MSc in Neuroscience and Translational Medicine

PhD studentships
Dr Badodi is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.

Lab experience placements
Dr Badodi is pleased to consider applications for prospective lab placements.

Research

Research Interests:

Our research focuses on characterising the epigenetic mechanisms involved in paediatric brain tu-mours, the most common solid tumours accounting for 25% of all paediatric cancers, which repre-sent the leading cause of tumour-related illness and death in childhood. 

We are interested in understanding the role of molecular and epigenetic mechanisms in paediatric brain tumours formation and progression with the aim of leveraging knowledge about epigenetic dysregulations to develop molecularly-tailored therapies with enhanced efficacy and reduced sec-ondary effects to improve overall prognosis and quality of life.

Group Members:
Jessica Sohl

Publications

Key Publications

Badodi S*, Pomella N, Lim YM, Brandner S, Morrison G, Pollard SM, Zhang X, Zabet NR, Marino S*, Combination of BMI1 and MAPK/ERK inhibitors is effective in medulloblastoma. Neuro-Oncology, (2022). doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noac052
*co-corresponding author

Badodi S*, Marino S*. Epigenetic mechanisms in paediatric brain tumours: regulators lose control. Biochemical Society Transactions, 50 (1): 167–185, (2022).  doi.org/10.1042/BST20201227
*co-corresponding author

Badodi S, Pomella N, Zhang X, Rosser G, Whittingham J, Niklison-Chirou MV, Lim YM, Brandner S, Morrison G, Pollard SM, Bennett CD, Clifford SC, Peet A, Basson MA, Marino S. Inositol treatment inhibits medulloblastoma through suppression of epigenetic-driven metabolic adaptation. Nature Communications, 12(1):2148, (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22379-7
*featured in Nature Communications Editors’ Highlights: Cancer

Badodi S, Marino S, & Guglielmi L. Establishment and Culture of Patient-Derived Primary Medullo-blastoma Cell Lines. Methods in Molecular Biology, Brain Tumor Stem Cells 1869, 23-36, (2019).  doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-8805-1_3

Badodi S, Dubuc A, Zhang X, Rosser G, Da Cunha Jaeger M, Kemada-Smith MM, Morissy AS, Guilhamon P, Suetterlin P, Li X-N, Guglielmi L, Merve A, Farooq H, Lupien M, Singh SK, Basson MA, Taylor MD, Marino S. Convergence of BMI1 and CHD7 on ERK signalling in medulloblastoma. Cell Reports, 21(10), 2772- 2784, (2017). doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2017.11.021

All Publications

Supervision

Alexandra Hadaway, PhD Student

Thomas Willott, PhD Student