Most of my research is aimed at improving our knowledge of the pathogenesis of the DiGeorge syndrome phenotype using mouse and cellular models as well as biocomputation. In particular, we study the developmental functions of  the gene encoding TBX1, a T-Box transcription factor, in various organs, especially the heart and pharyngeal apparatus. More recently, my attention has been dedicated to biocomputational approaches to building the regulatory logic upstream and downstream to TBX1, using up-to-date computational strategies, including machine-learning approaches to regulatory sequence identification and multi-gene transcriptional module definition. We use single-cell or single-nucleus transcriptome and accessome datasets (produced by us, by collaborators, or deposited in public databases). These approaches are proving to be very powerful to untangle developmental gene regulation, and discover mechanisms at the basis of gene dosage sensitivity and haploinsufficiency.

-Allegretti S, Lanzetta O, Bilio M, Ferrentino R, Salerno P, Zoppoli P, Merla G, Angelini C, Baldini A. Regulatory mutants of the Tbx1 gene alter transcription programs of lineage determination and patterning in early mesoderm. Biorxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.08.08.743664 (preprint, under review).

– Aurigemma I, Lanzetta O, Cirino A, Allegretti S, Lania G, Ferrentino R, Poondi Krishnan V, Angelini C, Illingworth E, Baldini A. Endothelial gene regulatory elements associated with cardiopharyngeal lineage differentiation. Commun Biol. 2024 Mar 21;7(1):351. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06017-8.

-Lanzetta O, Bilio M, Liebig J, Jechow K, Wei Ten F, Ferrentino R, Aurigemma I, Illingworth E, Conrad C, Lukassen S, Angelini C, Baldini A. Tbx1 stabilizes differentiation of the cardiopharyngeal mesoderm and drives morphogenesis in the pharyngeal apparatus. Development, 2025 152(12):dev204524.  PMID: 40446194 DOI: 10.1242/dev.204524.

– Bhalla P, Du Q, Kumar A, Xing C, Moses A, Dozmorov I, Wysocki CA, Cleaver OB, Pirolli T, Markert ML, de la Morena MT, Baldini A, van Oers NSC. Thymus Hypoplasia in Murine Models of 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Correctable by Mesenchymal Cell Replacement. J Clin Invest. 2022 132:e160101. doi: 10.1172/JCI160101. PMID: 36136514

– Lania G, Franzese F, Noritaka A, Bilio M, Russo A, D’Agostino E, Angelini C, Kelly RG, Baldini A. A phenotypic rescue approach identifies lineage regionalization defects in a mouse model of DiGeorge syndrome. Dis Model Mech. 2022, 15:dmm049415 doi: 10.1242/dmm.049415 PMID: 35946435

– Nomaru H, Liu Y, De Bono C, Righelli D, Cirino A, Wang W, Song H, Racedo S, Dantas A, Zhang L, Cai C, Angelini C, Christiaen L, Kelly R, Baldini A, Zheng D, and Morrow B. Single cell multi-omic analysis identifies a Tbx1-dependent multilineage primed population in murine cardiopharyngeal mesoderm. Nature Communications, 12:6645, 2021. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26966-6. PMID 34789765

– Caprio C, Lania G, Bilio M, Ferrentino R, Chen L, Baldini A. EZH2 is required for parathyroid and thymic development through differentiation of the third pharyngeal pouch endoderm. Dis Model Mech. 2021, doi: 10.1242/dmm.046789

– Alfano D, Altomonte A, Cortes C, Bilio M, Kelly RG, Baldini A. Tbx1 regulates extracellular matrix- and cell-cell interactions in the second heart field. Human Molecular Genetics, 28:2295-2308 (2019). doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddz058

– Baldini A, Fulcoli FG, Illingworth E. Tbx1: Transcriptional and Developmental Functions. Current Topics in Developmental Biology 122:223-243 (2017).

– Lania G, Bresciani A, Bisbocci M, Francone A, Colonna V, Altamura S, Baldini A. Vitamin B12 ameliorates the phenotype of a mouse model of DiGeorge syndrome. Hum. Mol. Genet. 25:4369-4375 (2016).

– Fulcoli G, Franzese M, Liu X, Zhang Z, Angelini C, Baldini A. Rebalancing gene haploinsufficiency in vivo by targeting chromatin. Nature Comm. 7:11688 (2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11688

– Caprio C, Baldini A: p53 suppression partially rescues the mutant phenotype in mouse models of DiGeorge syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111:13385-90, 2014.

– Chen L, Fulcoli FG, Ferrentino R, Martucciello S, Illingworth E, Baldini A. Transcriptional Control in Cardiac Progenitors: Tbx1 interacts with the BAF chromatin remodeling complex and regulates Wnt5a. PLoS Genetics, 8:e1002571, 2012.

– Chen L, Fulcoli FG, Tang S, Baldini A. Tbx1 Regulates Proliferation and Differentiation of Multipotent Heart Progenitors. Circulation Research 105:842-851, 2009

– Zhang Z, Baldini A. In vivo response to high-resolution variation of Tbx1 mRNA dosage.  Hum. Mol. Genet. 17:150-157, 2008.

– Xu H, Morishima M, Wylie JN, Schwartz RJ, Bruneau BG, Lindsay EA, Baldini A. Tbx1 has a dual role in the morphogenesis of the cardiac outflow tract.  Development 131:3217-3227, 2004.

– Lindsay EA, Vitelli F, Su H, Morishima M, Huynh T, Pramparo T, Jurecic V, Ogunrinu G, Sutherland H, Scambler PJ, Bradley A, Baldini A. Tbx1 haploinsufficiency in the DiGeorge syndrome region causes aortic arch defects in mice. Nature, 410:97-101, 2001.

– Lindsay EA, Botta A, Jurecic V, Cheah Y-C, Rivera S, Rosenblatt H, Bradley A, Baldini A. Congenital Heart Disease in Mice Deficient for the DiGeorge Syndrome Region. Nature, 401:379-383, 1999.

2026 –           Senior Associate, Institute of Genetics and Biophysics “Adriano Buzzati Traverso” National Research Council, Naples.

2003-2026    Full Professor (Professore Ordinario) of Molecular Biology, Dept. of                      Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnologies, University Federico II, Naples. (retired).

2019-2020     Visiting Professor, Stanford University Medical School, Dept. of Pediatrics, Stanford, USA.

2012-2014     Visiting Professor, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.

2008-2013     Director, Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, National Research Council (CNR), Naples, Italy.

2006-2010     Visiting Research Scientist, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M Univ. HSC, Houston, TX, USA.

2003-2006     Full Professor (tenured), Dept. of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, and Dept. of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

1999-2003     Associate Professor (tenured), Dept. of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, and Dept. of Mol. and Hum. Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine.

1992-1999     Assistant Professor, Dept. of Molecular & Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine. 

1991-1992       Research Scientist, Italian National Research Council (CNR) and Visiting Investigator,               Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, UK.

1990-1991     Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University School of Medicine, Dept. of Human       Genetics, New Haven, CT, USA (Mentor Dr. David C. Ward).

1987-1989     Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Wayne StateUniversity School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA (Mentors Drs. Dorothy A. Miller and Orlando J. Miller).