Roberto Ballarino

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at KI. My research focusses on elucidating transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms governing the development and function of the brain in health and disease. In particular I am interested in cell fate determination and the dynamic processes that give rise to the crucial decisions taken by stem cells as they lay the groundwork for an infinitely complex functioning brain.

I grew up in the Netherlands, attended a bachelors in biomedical sciences at Utrecht University (2011-2015), and a masters in Neuroscience (2015-2017) at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I then pursued PhD studies in Medical Science, working in the field of genomics at Scilifelab (2017-2022) under the supervision of Nicola Crosetto and Magda Bienko at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics. Here I researched molecular mosaicism of the brain and the role of DNA damage and 3D genome organization in stem cell fate and the mechanisms underlying regulation of transcription.

Currently, I am expanding my efforts by looking at transcription at the single cell scale and at higher resolution to define what makes neuronal populations unique.

My research focuses on unraveling the intricate role of alternative splicing in diversifying neuronal populations and its impact on synaptic connectivity within the brain. Specifically, my project aims to elucidate how alternative splicing contributes to the fine-tuning of neuronal development, the establishment of synaptic networks, and the overall functionality of the central nervous system. To achieve these objectives, I leverage advanced single-cell sequencing technologies, such as Smart-seq3xpress, alongside sophisticated deep learning models, to dissect the molecular mechanisms driving these processes on scale.