Position/Role

Associate professor of Molecolar Biology at La Sapienza University of Rome

Professional career

After graduating in Biological Sciences at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1998, she obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology at the same university. She then moved to Holland for a post doc at the University of Utrecht, in the Department of Genetics and Cell Biology from 1998 to 2003. There she worked on the molecular mechanisms of plant hormones such as auxin. These studies reveal the crucial role of this hormone in regulating fundamental processes such as the division, polarity and fate of a cell. From 2003 to 2006 she returned to Italy as a contract professor at the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Sapienza University in Rome thanks to the "Incentives for the mobility of Italian and foreign teachers working abroad" and to the assignment of the prestigious Career Development Award by the Giovanni Armenise - Harvard Foundation of Harvard University (USA). This is the first time this award has been given to a Plant Biology project. In 2008 she became a researcher at the General Department of Molecular Biology at Sapienza University and since 2010 she has been working as an associate professor in the "Charles Darwin" Department of Biology and Biotechnology. In 2010 she won a very prestigious ERC starting grant awarded by the European Reasercher Council for a value of € 1,500,000.

Scientific results

Sabrina Sabatini has established herself as an international leader in plant development biology. By studying the root of the Arabidopsis thaliana, Sabatini and her collaborators were able to understand the mechanism of action of the phytohormones, a discovery that opens up a new way to accelerate the evolutionary processes of the cultivated species. From this discovery derives, among other things, the possibility of speeding up and increasing the growth of the roots to make them sink into the ground until they reach the aquifer or, vice versa, prevent the roots from descending too deeply and avoid reaching areas with excessively high salt concentrations . Future applications of this discovery would therefore mark a turning point in the production of the much hated / loved GMOs, which could be outclassed.

Editorial work and publications

She is the author of numerous articles, including:

(2015) Pacifici E, Polverari L, Sabatini S. Plant hormone cross-talk: the pivot of root growth. Journal of Experimental Botany, 66(4):1113-21. 

(2014) Heidstra R, Sabatini S. Plant and animal stem cells: similar yet different. Nature Reviews Molecolar Cell Biology, 15(5):301-12.

(2013) Perilli S, Perez-Perez JM, Di Mambro R, Peris CL, Díaz-Triviño S, Del Bianco M, Pierdonati E, Moubayidin L, Cruz-Ramírez A, Costantino P, Scheres B, Sabatini S. RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED protein stimulates cell differentiation in the Arabidopsis root meristem by interacting with cytokinin signaling. Plant Cell, 25(11):4469-78.

(2013) Mattei B, Sabatini S, Schininà ME. Proteomics in deciphering the auxin commitment in the Arabidopsis thaliana root growth. Journal of Proteome Research, 12(11):4685-701.

(2013) Moubayidin L, Di Mambro R, Sozzani R, Pacifici E, Salvi E, Terpstra I, Bao D, van Dijken A, Dello Ioio R, Perilli S, Ljung K, Benfey PN, Heidstra R, Costantino P, Sabatini S. Spatial coordination between stem cell activity and cell differentiation in the root meristem. Developmental Cell, 26(4):405-15.

(2011) Perilli S., Di Mambro R., Sabatini S. Growth and development of the root apical meristem. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 15(1):17-23. 

(2011) Kim K, Ryu H, Cho YH, Scacchi E, Sabatini S, Hwang I. Cytokinin-facilitated Proteolysis of ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATOR2 Attenuates Signaling Output in Two-component Circuitry. Plant Journal, 69(6):934-45.

(2011) Aichinger E, Villar CB, Di Mambro R, Sabatini S, Köhler C. The CHD3 chromatin remodeler PICKLE and polycomb group proteins antagonistically regulate meristem activity in the Arabidopsis root. Plant Cell, 23:1047-60.

(2010) Moubayidin L., Perilli S, Dello Ioio R., Di Mambro R, Costantino P and Sabatini S. Root meristem growth is controlled by an increase in the rate of cell differentiation relative to cell division. Journal of Biotechnology,150, Supplement 1, S110. 

(2010) Moubayidin L, Perilli S, Dello Ioio R, Di Mambro R, Costantino P and Sabatini S. The rate of cell differentiation controls the Arabidopsis root meristem growth phase. Current Biology, 20:1138-1143. 

Awards and prizes

In 2003 she won the Career Development Award from the Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Foundation of Harvard University (USA), for the first time assigned to a Plant Biology project. In 2010 she won a prestigious ERC starting grant awarded by the European Reasercher Council.