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Italo Tempera, Ph.D.

  • Professor, Genome Regulation and Cell Signaling Program, Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center

  • Director of Wistar Graduate Programs, Hubert J.P. Schoemaker Education and Training Center

Tempera’s research focus is on the epigenetic mechanisms underlying Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infection to identify new viral functions that can be targeted as novel therapeutic approaches for treating EBV-associated cancers.

Tempera obtained his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Wistar and established his laboratory at the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology at Temple University, where he was promoted to associate professor. In 2020, Tempera returned to Wistar as an associate professor in the Gene Expression & Regulation Program, which became the Genome Regulation and Cell Signaling Program in 2024.

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The Tempera Laboratory

215-898-3912
itempera@wistar.org

The Tempera Laboratory

Approximately 90 percent of the world’s population is infected with EBV and carries the virus in a silent state for life. Although EBV infection is asymptomatic in most cases, in some people it can cause infectious mononucleosis. In immunocompromised individuals, such as in HIV-infected persons and transplant recipients, EBV can cause B-cell transformation and malignancies including Burkitt’s lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. EBV-associated cancers are still treated with chemotherapy, even though they have a specific pathogenic cause, but multiple attempts are being made to target EBV directly and develop EBV-specific therapies.

One approach to control EBV infectivity is by changing the expression of viral genes. The Tempera lab studies how epigenetics contributes to regulating the gene expression patterns adopted by EBV during latency. They utilize their expertise in genomics and genome-wide data analysis to better understand the link between the three-dimensional structure of chromosomes, chromatin composition and gene expression during EBV latency.

Staff
  • Associate Staff Scientist

    Lisa Beatrice Caruso

  • Postdoctoral Fellows

    Sarah Alp, Ph.D.
    Aradhana Bharti, Ph.D.
    Martina Gatto, Ph.D.
    Pyounghwa Park, Ph.D.

  • Graduate Student

    Rachel Sklutuis

  • Research Assistant

    Lauren Melick

Available Positions

  • Learn about job opportunities at The Wistar Institute here.

Research

Our laboratory investigates how Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) reprograms host cells to drive tumorigenesis, with a focus on the integration of epigenetics, genome organization, and metabolism.

Chromatin architecture and gene regulation

We study how EBV reshapes chromatin architecture to control gene expression. Our work focuses on how viral proteins cooperate with host factors such as CTCF/cohesin to reorganize the three-dimensional genome and establish transcriptional programs that support viral persistence and oncogenic transformation.

Nuclear architecture and genome organization

We define the role of nuclear architecture in EBV-driven gene regulation. We investigate how the nuclear lamina, including Lamin A/C, coordinates genome organization and epigenetic states, and how EBV exploits these mechanisms to reprogram B cells.

Metabolism and epigenetic control

We investigate how metabolic pathways regulate epigenetic processes. Our research focuses on NAD metabolism and PARPs activity as key mediators linking cellular metabolic state to chromatin structure, genome folding, and transcriptional regulation during viral infection.

Together, these interconnected areas provide a mechanistic framework for understanding how EBV contributes to human cancers, including lymphomas and epithelial malignancies, and identify new therapeutic vulnerabilities by targeting epigenetic and metabolic dependencies in tumor cells.

Tempera Lab in the News

Selected Publications

PARP1 Inhibition Halts EBV+ Lymphoma Progression by Disrupting the EBNA2/MYC Axis

Lisa Beatrice Caruso, Giorgia Napoletani, Samantha S. Soldan, Davide Maestri, Toshitha Kannan, Sarah Preston-Alp, Andrew Kossenkov, Asher Sobotka, Paul M. Lieberman, Italo Tempera, from Wistar; and Peter Vogel from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “PARP1 Inhibition Halts EBV+ Lymphoma Progression by Disrupting the EBNA2/MYC Axis,” Journal of Medical Virology, 2025. PMID: 40622706 PMCID: PMC12233057 DOI: 10.1002/jmv.70485

EBNA Leader Protein Orchestrates Chromatin Architecture Remodeling During Epstein-Barr Virus-Induced B Cell Transformation

Davide Maestri, Lisa B Caruso, Jana M Cable, Rachel Sklutuis, Sarah Preston-Alp, Robert E White, Micah A Luftig, Italo Tempera “EBNA Leader Protein Orchestrates Chromatin Architecture Remodeling During Epstein-Barr Virus-Induced B Cell Transformation” Nucleic Acids Research, 2025. PMID: 40598900  PMCID: PMC12214021  DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaf629

Decitabine disrupts EBV genomic epiallele DNA methylation patterns around CTCF binding sites to increase chromatin accessibility and lytic transcription in gastric cancer

Sarah Preston-Alp, Lisa Beatrice Caruso, Chenhe Su, Samantha S. Soldan, Davide Maestri, Andrew Kossenkov, Giorgia Napoletani, Paul M. Lieberman and Italo Tempera of The Wistar Institute; Kelsey Keith and Jozef Madzo of The Coriell Institute for Medical Research; and Benjamin Gewurz of Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School. “Decitabine disrupts EBV genomic epiallele DNA methylation patterns around CTCF binding sites to increase chromatin accessibility and lytic transcription in gastric cancer” from mBio, 2023. PMID: 37606370 PMCID: PMC10653948 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00396-23

The Three-Dimensional Structure of Epstein-Barr Virus Genome Varies by Latency Type and Is Regulated by PARP1 Enzymatic Activity,

Sarah M. Morgan, Lisa Beatrice Caruso, Andrew Kossenkov, Sarah Boyle, Paul M. Lieberman, and Italo Tempera from The Wistar Institute; Hideki Tanizawa from University of Oregon; Michael Hulse from Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University; Jozef Madzo and Kelsey Keith from The Coriell Institute for Medical Research; Yinfei Tan from Fox Chase Cancer Center.”The Three-Dimensional Structure of Epstein-Barr Virus Genome Varies by Latency Type and Is Regulated by PARP1 Enzymatic Activity,” Nature Communications, 2022. 

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