December 20, 2021 – The Institute for Research in Biomedicine Foundation (IRB Foundation) has appointed four new members to the Scientific Advisory Board of the USI-affiliated Institute. Among these leading academics, Charles M. Rice, Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2020.
On 15 December, during the first session of the IRB Foundation held in the new Center for biomedical research located in Via Chiesa 5, Bellinzona, four new members were appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the USI-affiliated Institute. They are Maria Rescigno (Humanitas University), Alexandra Trkola (University of Zurich), Johanna Joyce (University of Lausanne) and 2020 Nobel Prize winner Charles M. Rice (Rockefeller University, New York). The USI Council ratified these appointments on 16 December.
Below are the academic profiles of the new members of the IRB Scientific Advisory Board.
– Maria Rescigno is Full Professor of General Pathology and Deputy Pro-Rector with delegation to research at Humanitas University. From 2001 to 2017 she was Director of the Dendritic Cells and Immunotherapy Research Unit in the Department of Experimental Oncology at the European Institute of Oncology. Rescigno has published more than 130 scientific papers and is a leader in the field of mucosal and cancer immunology. In 2016, Rescigno founded a microbiota start-up.
– Alexandra Trkola is Director of the Institute of Medical Virology and professor at the University of Zurich. She trained at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York and was a professor at the Swiss National Science Foundation (2004-2008). She received the Elizabeth Glaser Scientist award in 2006 and the Swiss Society of Infectious Diseases award in 2018. Trkola is a leader in HIV transmission and immune responses during AIDS infection.
– Johanna Joyce is professor of Oncology at the University of Lausanne and a member of the Ludwig International Institute for Cancer Research. Previously she was a member of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York before moving to Switzerland in 2016. Her research focuses on tumour biology, immunology and the tumour microenvironment. For her contributions to cancer research, Joyce has received a number of awards including the Cloetta Award, the American Cancer Society Scholar Award and many others.
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2020 for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, Charles M. Rice is Professor of Virology at Rockefeller University in New York. Rice is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was president of the American Society of Virology from 2002 to 2003. In 2016, he received the Lasker-DeBakey award for clinical medical research.
