Naldini Luigi Professore ordinarioMedicineBIO/17 - BIOS-13/A - Istologia ed embriologia umana

Full Professor of Histology,

Director, San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget), Milan, Italy

Curriculum Vitae

– from October 2008: Director, San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget), Milan

– from 2003: full Professor of Histology and Gene and Cell Therapy, University Vita Salute San Raffaele, Milan

– 2003-2008 Co-Director San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget), Milan

– 2002-1998 Associate Professor, University of Turin, and Director of the Gene Therapy Lab, Candiolo Cancer Institute - IRCCS, Candiolo, Turin

– 1998-1996 Senior Scientist and Director of the  Direttore del Progetto Vettori Lentivirali, Cell Genesys, Foster City, California, USA

– 1996-1994 Visiting Scientist, Laboratory of Genetics (Director: Prof. Inder Verma), Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, USA

– 1996-1990 Universitary Researcher, Department of Biomedical and Oncologic Sciences of the University of Turin, Italy

– 1989-1987 Post-doctoral training with J. Schlessinger (Rockville, M.D. and King of Prussia), Maryland, USA

– 1987-1983 Ph.D. in Scienze Citologiche e Morfogenetiche with Prof. P.M. Comoglio, University of Turin  

– 1983 Medical Degree, University of Turin

Scientific Activity

Luigi Naldini is the Director of San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, Milan, Italy, and Full Professor with Tenure at the San Raffaele Vita-Salute University, Milan. For the past 25 years he has pioneered the development and the applications of lentiviral vectors for gene therapy, which have become one of the most widely used tools in biomedical research and, upon recently entering clinical testing, are providing a long-sought hope of cures for several currently untreatable and otherwise deadly human diseases. Throughout this time, he has continued to investigate new strategies to overcome the major hurdles to safe and effective gene transfer, bringing about innovative solutions that not only are being translated into new therapeutic strategies for genetic disease and cancer, but have also allowed novel insights into hematopoietic stem cell function, induction of immunological tolerance, and tumor angiogenesis. His work also contributed to advance the use of artificial nucleases for targeted genome editing in cell and gene therapy. Has published 272 scientific papers. SCOPUS Author h-index: 95. During the last 10 years was invited as a Speaker in more than 150 international and national Congresses and as Keynote Speaker in more than 15 events.

Luigi received his medical degree from the University of Turin, Italy, and his PhD from the University of Rome. He is Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), has been President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT), and has been appointed as an expert on the “Human Gene Editing Study” of the US National Academies of Sciences and of Medicine, and on the Italian National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences. He was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) in 2014 and from ESGCT in 2015, an Honorary doctorate from the Vrije University, Brussel, in 2015, the Jimenez Diaz Prize in 2016, the Beutler Prize from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in 2017 and the 2019 Jeantet-Collen Prize for Translational Medicine. He was nominated “Grande Ufficiale dell’Ordine Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana”, one of the highest ranking honor in Italy, from the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister of Italy on December 27th 2019.