How do fundamental cellular processes evolve?
While early research emphasized universal principles shared across life, recent studies reveal striking species-specific differences in how fundamental functions — such as DNA replication, repair, and chromosome segregation — are executed. The evolutionary origins of this diversity remain poorly understood.
We use Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system to investigate how genome maintenance mechanisms adapt under stress, revealing how essential cellular functions evolve. Our work has shown that these mechanisms can rapidly rewire, demonstrating how the evolution of cell biology can be studied experimentally.
We use a multidisciplinary approach, integrating molecular, evolutionary, biophysical, and synthetic biology approaches to uncover how cells respond and adapt — from molecules to populations.
These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the principles of cellular evolution and have important implications for predicting evolutionary outcomes in contexts such as cancer progression and antibiotic resistance.
We are currently interested in the following research areas:
Evolutionary repair refers to the compensatory evolution that follows perturbations in cellular processes. Our research investigates the principles governing how cells adaptively respond to genetic perturbations, karyotype changes, and drug-induced stress, seeking to uncover generalizable patterns in evolutionary repair.
Cell volume is a fundamental determinant of cellular physiology, maintained through a process known as cell size homeostasis. Cell sizes have dramatically diverged during species evolution. Our lab aims at understanding the molecular and biophysical processes allowing cells to evolve novel cell size homeostasis.
Progression through the eukaryotic cell cycle involves tightly coordinated events that occur on precise timescales. We study how cells balance the duration of different cell cycle phases, aiming to understand the mechanistic and evolutionary pressures that shape this temporal allocation.
EMBO Installation Grant (IG-5349-2023): Evolutionary rewiring genome maintenance.
HFSP Research Grants – Early Career (RGEC28/2023): Experimentally evolving budding yeast cell size to test scaling laws in cell biology.
FCT CEEC (2023.09068.CEECIND/CP2854/CT0003): The roles of nutrients availability in genome maintenance and evolution.
Alsina A., Fumasoni M.*, Sartori P*. (2025) Model-based inference of cell cycle dynamics captures alterations of the DNA replication programme. bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2025.03.19.644216
Natalino M., Fumasoni M.* (2024). Compensatory evolution to DNA replication stress is robust to nutrient availability. bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2024.10.29.620637
Natalino M., Fumasoni M.* (2023). Experimental approaches to study evolutionary cell biology using yeasts. Yeast. DOI: 10.1002/yea.3848
Korovesi A.G., Morgado L., Fumasoni M., Henriques R., Heil H.S., Del Rosario M.* (2022). Expansion microscopy on Saccharomyces cerevisiae. MicroPubl Biol.. DOI: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000566
Fumasoni M.*, Murray A.W. (2021). Ploidy and recombination proficiency shape the evolutionary adaptation to constitutive DNA replication stress. PLoS Genet 17 (11), e1009875. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009875
LaBar T.*, Hsieh Y.P., Fumasoni M.*, and Murray A.W.* (2020). Evolutionary repair experiments as a window to the molecular diversity of life. Curr. Biol. 30, R565–R574, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.046
Srinivasan M., Fumasoni M., Petela N.J., Murray A.W., Nasmyth K.A. (2020). Cohesion is established during DNA replication utilising chromosome associated cohesin rings as well as those loaded de novo onto nascent DNAs. eLife 2020;9:e56611. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.56611
Fumasoni, M.* and Murray, A.W. (2020). The evolutionary plasticity of chromosome metabolism allows adaptation to DNA replication stress. eLife 2020;9:e51963. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.51963
2024-2030: FCT CEEC for Scientific Employment Stimulus, IGC, PORTUGAL
2023-2026: HFSP Early Career Grant, IGC, PORTUGAL
2023-2028: EMBO Installation Grant, IGC, PORTUGAL
2022-2024: FCT PeX, IGC, PORTUGAL
2021-2023: Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, IGC, PORTUGAL
2018: Certificate of excellence in teaching, Harvard University, USA
2018: ESEB Outreach fund, Harvard University, USA
2016-2019: HFSP long-term post-doctoral fellowship, Harvard University, USA
2016-2016: AIRC iCare post-doctoral fellowship , Harvard University, USA
2015-2016: EMBO long-term post-doctoral fellowship, Harvard University, USA
2009-2013: FIRC PhD fellowship for cancer research in Italy, IFOM, Milan, ITALY2018
Lab Webiste: https://fumalab.github.io/
BlueSky account: https://bsky.app/profile/marcofumasoni.bsky.social
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&authuser=1&user=o_42xZkAAAAJ
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4507-7824