Paolo Salomoni

Prof. Dr. Paolo Salomoni serves as Group Leader at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn, where he heads the Nuclear Function Group. His research centers on understanding how epigenetic barriers maintaining cell identity become disrupted during aging and in neurodegenerative diseases through loss of heterochromatin.

Dr. Salomoni's primary research interests include:

• Epigenetic regulation of cell identity during aging
• Retrotransposable element (RTE) silencing mechanisms
• Chromatin organization in neurodegenerative diseases
• Neuroinflammation and its epigenetic basis
• Brain and bone cancer mechanisms related to histone mutations

His work focuses on the Daxx/histone H3.3 complex, a major RTE-silencing complex that when mutated drives human brain and bone cancer. Research from his laboratory has demonstrated that Daxx protein is downregulated during aging in neurons and innate immune cells, contributing to neuronal dysfunction and inflammation. Current investigations examine longitudinal chromatin and transcriptional perturbations across multiple neurodegenerative disease models at bulk and single-cell levels, with particular emphasis on how RTE repressors regulate cell identity in hematopoiesis and microglia.

Dr. Salomoni joined DZNE as an ERC grant holder and has successfully secured additional third-party funding from DLR, German Cancer Aid, Wilhelm Sander Stiftung, and Mildred Scheel School of Oncology. His therapeutic focus targets key nodes in the RTE life cycle using clinical-grade agents in collaboration with Rayk Behrendt and Hiroki Kato at the University of Bonn.

His scientific recognition includes:

• ERC grant holder

Dr. Salomoni maintains extensive collaborations with:

• DZNE groups: Aziz, Bano, Beyer, Breteler, Capasso, Di Monte, Fuhrmann, Gruendemann, Halle, Krabbe, Nicotera, Petzold, Schultze, Ulas, Vorberg
• University of Bonn: Becker, Behrendt, Herrlinger, Hoelzel, Kato, Mass, Schneider
• Other German institutions: Giordano (DKFZ), Schneider (HMGU)
• International collaborators: Brandner, Cottone, Flanagan, Riccio (UCL London), Mallucci (Altos Cambridge), Kleinman and Jabado (Montreal), Bellodi (Lund)

His laboratory investigates epigenetic perturbations in neurodegenerative disease models and cancer, with particular focus on how loss of heterochromatin affects cell identity and contributes to disease pathogenesis and inflammation, including identification of stress-responsive nuclear structures as key players in interferonopathies.