Daniele Canzio

2025 National Award Finalist — Faculty

Daniele Canzio

Current Position:
Associate Professor & Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator 

Institution:
University of California, San Francisco

Discipline:
Neuroscience

Recognized for: Uncovering a role for 3D genome architecture in generating unique identities for neurons, revealing new principles of brain wiring and advancing our understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Genome Architecture, Epigenetics, Neural Self/Non-Self Discrimination, Brain Wiring

Previous Positions:

Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University (Advisor: Tom Maniatis)
PhD, University of California, San Francisco (Advisor: Geeta Narlikar)
BSc, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Summary:

To build precise brain networks, neurons must distinguish themselves from nearby cells and avoid incorrect connections—an extraordinary challenge since all neurons share an identical genome. Daniele Canzio, PhD, has shown that 3D genome folding controls the random expression of Protocadherin genes, creating unique molecular “barcodes” that allow neurons to distinguish self from non-self. The Canzio Lab demonstrated that genome architecture—not just DNA sequence—drives this cellular individuality, sparking a paradigm shift in gene regulation. This discovery has broad implications for brain development, disorders like autism and schizophrenia, and developing precision therapies targeting genome structure to treat diverse pathologies.

“How do billions of neurons make the right connections and how do these connections help us interpret the world? The Blavatnik Award is an honor of a lifetime and an inspiration to continue our journey toward uncovering the complexity of the human brain.”

Key Publications:

  1. Kiefer L., Gaudin S., Rajkumar S. M., Servito G. I. F., Langen J., Mui M. H., Nawsheen S., Canzio D., Tuning cohesin trajectories enables differential readout of the Pcdha cluster across neurons. Science, 2024.
  2. Kiefer L., Chiosso A., Langen J., Buckley A., Gaudin S., Rajkumar S. M., Servito G. I. F., Cha E. S., Vijay A., Yeung A., Horta A., Mui M. H., Canzio D., WAPL functions as a rheostat of Protocadherin isoform diversity that controls neural wiring. Science, 2023.
  3. Canzio D, Nwakeze CL, Horta A, Rajkumar SM, Coffey EL, Duffy EE, Duffié R, Monahan K, O'Keeffe S, Simon MD, Lomvardas S, Maniatis T. Antisense lncRNA Transcription Mediates DNA Demethylation to Drive Stochastic Protocadherin a Promoter Choice. Cell, 2019.
  4. Canzio D, Liao M, Naber N, Pate E, Larson A, Wu S, Marina DB, Garcia JF, Madhani HD, Cooke R, Schuck P, Cheng Y, Narlikar GJ. A conformational switch in HP1 releases auto-inhibition to drive heterochromatin assembly. Nature, 2013.

Other Honors:

2024 Rita Allen Foundation Milton E. Cassel Scholar, Rita Allen Foundation
2022 Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
2021 NIH New Innovator Award, NIH
2017 NIH Pathway to Independent Award K99/R00, NIH
2014 Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship, Helen Hay Whitney Foundation

In the Media:

Website