Luigi Naldini

Last updated

Luigi Naldini (born 1959 in Turin) is an Italian gene therapist, professor of cell and tissue biology and of gene and cell therapy at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, and the director of San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy. Often considered as "the father of the lentivirus gene therapy", [1] he is globally known as the pioneer of "the development and applications of lentiviral vectors for gene transfer" that allowed the gene therapy treatment of several genetic diseases. [2] [3] [4] He is also a scientific co-founder of three biotech start-up companies, Genenta in Milan and New York, [1] Chroma Medicine in Milan and Boston, [3] Genespire in Milan. [5] [6] He is also the former president of European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) [7] and an elected member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). [6] In 2019, he was awarded Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine "for taking gene therapy from the bench to the bedside". [8]

Contents

Education and career

He graduated in 1983 with an M.D. from the University of Turin and in 1987 with a Ph.D. in cell and tissue biology from the Sapienza University of Rome. His doctoral advisor was Paolo M. Comoglio. As a postdoc from 1987 to 1989, Naldini was supervised by Joseph Schlessinger in Rockville, Maryland. From 1990 to 1996 Naldini was an assistant professor in the University of Turin's department of biomedical sciences and oncology. [2] From 1994 to 1996 he was a visiting scientist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. From 1996 to 1998 Naldini worked in biotechnology in Foster City, California as a visiting scientist and director at Cell Genesys (which was taken over by BioSante Pharmaceuticals in 2009). From 1998 to 2002 he was an associate professor at the University of Turin's Medical School. At the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University's School of Medicine, he is since 2003 a full professor of cell and tissue biology. At Milan's San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget), he was from 2003 to 2008 the co-director and is since 2008 the director. [2] Over the last 25 years, he has made significant contribution to the field of gene therapy, from its development to its huge application in the clinic. [9] [10] [6] His research also advanced the "use of artificial nucleases for targeted genome editing in cell and gene therapy." [2] He also serves the Committee on Human Genome Editing of three national academies of United States, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Medicine. [11]

Awards and accolades

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Jakob Gehring</span> Swiss scientist (1939–2014)

Walter Jakob Gehring was a Swiss developmental biologist who was a professor at the Biozentrum Basel of the University of Basel, Switzerland. He obtained his PhD at the University of Zurich in 1965 and after two years as a research assistant of Ernst Hadorn he joined Alan Garen's group at Yale University in New Haven as a postdoctoral fellow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Raffaele Hospital</span> Hospital in Province of Milan, Italy

The San Raffaele Hospital is a university hospital situated in Segrate, the Province of Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1969 by don Luigi Maria Verzé, president of "San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Foundation". The facility is connected to the Milan Metro by the MeLA people mover.

Sir Michael John Berridge was a British physiologist and biochemist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pascale Cossart</span> French bacteriologist

Pascale Cossart is a French bacteriologist who is affiliated with the Pasteur Institute of Paris. She is the foremost authority on Listeria monocytogenes, a deadly and common food-borne pathogen responsible for encephalitis, meningitis, bacteremia, gastroenteritis, and other diseases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine</span> Swiss medicine award

Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prizes are funded by the Fondation Louis-Jeantet and awarded each year to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in one of the member states of the Council of Europe. They are not intended solely as the recognition of work that has been completed, but also to encourage the continuation of innovative research projects. The prizes are awarded to fully active researchers whose scientific efforts are focused on biomedical research. When the research being recognised is close to practical applications for combating illnesses affecting humankind, one of the Louis-Jeantet Prizes converts into a Jeantet-Collen Prize for Translational Medicine, supported by generous donations from the Désiré Collen Stichting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Duboule</span> Swiss-French biologist

Denis Duboule is a Swiss-French biologist. He earned his PhD in Biology in 1984 and is currently Professor of Developmental Genetics and Genomics at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and at the Department of Genetics and Evolution of the University of Geneva. Since 2001, he is the Director of the Swiss National Research Center "Frontiers in Genetics" and since 2017, he is also a professor at the Collège de France. He has notably worked on Hox genes, a group of genes involved in the formation of the body plan and of the limbs.

In 1992 Doctor Claudio Bordignon working at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy performed the first procedure of gene therapy using hematopoietic stem cells as vectors to deliver genes intended to correct hereditary diseases. This was a world first, but was unfortunately unsuccessful because it did not lead to sustained correction of the hematopoietic stem cells. In 2002 this work led to the publication of the first successful gene therapy treatment for adenosine deaminase deficiency (SCID). He expanded this work to stem cell gene therapy of other genetic diseases and AIDS, and for the immunotherapy of cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvia Arber</span> Swiss neurobiologist

Silvia Arber is a Swiss neurobiologist. She teaches and researches at both the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuelle Charpentier</span> French microbiologist, biochemist and Nobel laureate

Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she founded an independent research institute, the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens. In 2020, Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of a method for genome editing". This was the first science Nobel Prize ever won by two women only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Mattaj</span> British scientist

Iain William Mattaj FRS FRSE is a British scientist and Honorary Professor at Heidelberg University in Germany. From 2005 to 2018 he was Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). He stepped down from the position at the end of 2018 following his appointment to Human Technopole. In January 2019 he took office as the first Director of Human Technopole, the new Italian institute for life sciences in Milan, Italy.

Sir Hugh Reginald Brentnall Pelham, is a cell biologist who has contributed to our understanding of the body's response to rises in temperature through the synthesis of heat shock proteins. He served as director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) between 2006 and 2018.

Autologous CD34+ enriched cell fraction that contains CD34+ cells transduced with retroviral vector that encodes for the human ADA cDNA sequence, sold under the brand name Strimvelis, is a medication used to treat severe combined immunodeficiency due to adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA-SCID).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Ballabio</span> Italian scientist and academic professor

Andrea Ballabio, M.D., is an Italian scientist and academic professor. He is director of the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) of Pozzuoli; professor of medical genetics at the Federico II University of Naples and visiting professor of genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, US and at the University of Oxford-UK.

Elena Conti is an Italian biochemist and molecular biologist. She serves as Director and Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, where she uses structural biology and biophysical techniques to study RNA transport and RNA metabolism. Together with Elisa Izaurralde, she helped characterize proteins important for exporting mRNA out of the nucleus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Treisman</span>

Sir Richard Henry Treisman is a British scientist specialising in the molecular biology of cancer. Treisman is a director of research at the Francis Crick Institute in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Merla</span> Italian scientist and geneticist

Giuseppe Merla is an Italian scientist who is a Full Professor of Molecular Biology at University of Naples Federico II and medical geneticist at Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. He is the Managing Director of Fondazione Telethon-Genomic and Genetics Disorders Biobank, a member of EuroBioBank at the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital. Merla and his team led the discovery of a new rare genetic syndrome intellectual development disorder with cardiac arrhythmia and the gene responsible for it. Merla is also known for his extensive research on Kabuki Syndrome. He has been declared as the Ambassador of Kabuki syndrome and received the 2019 Ambassador Day award at the Royal Villa of Monza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michele De Palma</span> Italian biologist

Michele 'Miki' De Palma is an Italian biologist and a professor at EPFL. He is known for his work on the role of macrophages in cancer progression and the discovery of Tie2-expressing angiogenic monocytes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didier Trono</span> Swiss virologist

Didier Trono was a Swiss virologist and a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He was known for his research on virus-host interactions and the development of lentiviral vectors for gene therapy.

Maria Grazia Roncarolo is an Italian pediatrician who is currently George D. Smith Professor in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. She is also the Director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine along with Irving Weissman and Michael Longaker and the Director for Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine at Stanford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Hoeijmakers</span> Dutch biologist, biochemist and geneticist

Jan Hendrik Jozef Hoeijmakers is a Dutch molecular biologist, biochemist, and molecular geneticist.

References

  1. 1 2 https://www.genenta.com/leadership/
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Luigi Naldini". Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele (hsr.it).
  3. 1 2 https://chromamedicine.com/team/?term=founders
  4. ↑ https://research.hsr.it/en/news/the-2019-louis-jeantet-prize-awarded-to-luigi-naldini.html#:~:text=Luigi%20Naldini%2C%20director%20of%20the,bedside%2C%20allowing%20to%20treat%20several
  5. ↑ https://www.genespire.com/en/about-us/founders/
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 https://research.hsr.it/en/institutes/san-raffaele-telethon-institute-for-gene-therapy/gene-transfer-technologies-and-new-gene-therapy-strategies/luigi-naldini.html
  7. 1 2 https://www.esgct.eu/post/2015-awards-winners
  8. ↑ https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prix-louis-jeantet/laureats/2019-en/
  9. 1 2 3 https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prix-louis-jeantet/laureats/2019-en/luigi-naldini/
  10. ↑ https://www.thefutureofscience.org/speakerdetail/sixth-world-conference-on-the-future-of-science-viruses-the-invisible-enemy-naldini-luigi-295
  11. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK447259/
  12. ↑ https://www.telethon.it/cosa-facciamo/ricerca/ricercatori/luigi-naldini
  13. ↑ https://www.lincei.it/it/content/naldini-luigi
  14. ↑ https://www.eyeofriyadh.com/news/details/inaugural-global-health-pioneer-awards-launched-in-dubai
  15. ↑ http://tradearabia.com/news/HEAL_350282.html
  16. ↑ http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302735400
  17. ↑ https://www.hematology.org/awards/honorific/ernest-beutler-lecture-prize-recipients
  18. ↑ https://www.fondazionesanraffaele.it/news/assegnato-al-prof-naldini-il-premio-capitani-dellanno-2016/
  19. ↑ https://www.telethon.it/storie-e-news/news/dalla-fondazione/a-luigi-naldini-il-jimenez-diaz-prize-2016/
  20. ↑ https://www.fundacionconchitarabago.net/lecci%C3%B3n-conmemorativa
  21. ↑ https://www.unisr.it/en/docenti/n/naldini-luigi
  22. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK447272/
  23. ↑ https://www.accademiadellescienze.it/premio-Gili-Agostinelli
  24. ↑ https://asgct.org/membership/grants-awards/outstanding-achievement-award
  25. ↑ https://people.embo.org/profile/luigi-naldini
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.