Ylli Doksani Lab
Ylli Doksani
Ylli Doksani, biologist, specialized in molecular biology and genetics. Since April 2016 directs the Replication Stress Response program at IFOM.
Born in 1977 in Durrës, Albania, Ylli graduated with honors in Biological Sciences at the University of Milan in 2002.
In 2008 obtained his PhD in Marco Foiani’s lab in IFOM where he studied the molecular mechanisms that deal with DNA double strand breaks during replication. In his PhD studies he uncovered an unanticipated role for the ATM/Mre11 pathway in stabilizing terminal forks and showed that dormant DNA replication origins become active in the presence of a DSB nearby.read more
Replication Stress Response
We study the molecular mechanisms of the replication stress response in mammalian cells. Our overarching goal is to understand the mechanisms that ensure the stability of the genome and their involvement in cancer and ageing.
DNA replication stress is a major cause of genome instability; it is induced by DNA damaging agents such as UV, oxidants or chemotherapeutics, but can also occur spontaneously at some chromosomal regions known as replication fragile sites. A particularly relevant example of such fragile sites are telomeres: the terminal parts of our chromosomes. read more
Last publications
- Elena Faustini, Angela Dello Stritto, Andrea Panza, Ylli Doksani, Francisca Lottersberger
Nuclear deformability increases PARPi sensitivity in BRCA1-deficient cells by increasing microtubule-dependent DNA break mobility
Nat Commun. 2025 Jun 17;16(1):5326. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60756-8. - Trang Thu Nguyen, Giulia Mazzucco, Eftychia Kyriacou, Thomas Lunardi, Leona Brandl, Wareed Ahmed, Ylli Doksani, Joachim Lingner
Oxidative stress at telomeres triggers internal DNA loops, TRF1 dissociation, and TRF2-dependent R-loops
Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 53, Issue 7, 24 April 2025 doi:10.1093/nar/gkaf285. - Ylli Doksani, Zanella E.
In the Loop: Unusual DNA Structures at Telomeric Repeats and Their Impact on Telomere Function.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2025 Mar 17:a041694.
doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041694. - Ylli Doksani, Francisca Lottersberger
The risky business of ADP-ribosylating telomeric DNA
Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2024 May;31(5):737-738. doi: 10.1038/s41594-024-01285-8. - Huda, A., Arakawa, H., Mazzucco, G., Galli, M., Petrocelli, V., Casola, S., Chen, L., and Doksani, Y. (2023).
The telomerase reverse transcriptase elongates reversed replication forks at telomeric repeats.
Sci Adv 9, eadf2011.
Group members
Staff Scientist
- Elia Zanella
Postdoc
- Martin Stojaspal
PhD Students
- Flavia Bruno
- Elisa Tonucci
Research Fellow
- Shiyao Ma
Master Student
- Caterina Ferrari
Past Members
- Armela Huda (PhD student)
- Giulia Mazzucco (PhD student)
- Lorenzo Atzeni (PhD student)
- Martina Galli (Postdoc)
- Fabio Pessina (Postdoc)
- Silvia Caciolli (Master Student)
- Eleftherios Mantziaris (Erasmus Intern)