on October 23, 2013
The Ercole Pisello Award delivered from the Giuseppe Corradi Association was given to Professor Antonio Lanzavecchia, Director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine. The award ceremony took place on Saturday, October 19 at the municipal theater of Bevagna, Italy.
The Ercole Pisello Prize is awarded on the recommendation of the Scientific Committee of Giuseppe Corradi composed of Professors Silvio Garattini , Massimo Martelli and Maurizio Tonato, and honors one person who has excelled in his field of research and whose contributions are of great significance in the medical, scientific and social fields. Over the years, were honored physicians and reseachers including Rita Levi Montalcini, Christiaan Barnard, Carlo Rubbia, Umberto Veronesi, Silvio Garattini and the Ticino resident Athos Gallino.
Antonio Lanzavecchia is the founding director of the IRB in Bellinzona. He obtained his degree in Medicine at the University of Pavia where he specialized in Paediatrics and in Infectious Diseases. From 1983 to 1999, he worked at the Basel Institute for Immunology. He has taught immunology at the Universities of Genova and Siena and since 2009 is Professor of Human Immunology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich. He received the EMBO gold medal in 1988 and the Cloëtta prize in 1999. Antonio Lanzavecchia published more than 270 original articles. His research has covered several aspects of immunology: antigen processing and presentation to dendritic cell biology, from lymphocyte activation and trafficking to mechanisms of immunological memory. He has recently developed new methods for isolating human monoclonal antibodies that have been successfully applied to the study of infectious diseases such as SARS, Influenza, HCMV, Dengue, Malaria and HIV-1. This Ercole Pisello award honors his research that contributes to the understanding of the human immune system.
The Giuseppe Corradi Association was founded in Bevagna in 1989. Giuseppe Corradi (1830-1907) was an eminent Italian surgeon who founded the First Surgical Clinic of Rome at the hospital San Giacomo. His scientific work is remembered today for his particular commitment in some specialized areas of the clinic and for the design of many devices and surgical instruments. The purpose of the Association is to honor the memory of the illustrious surgeon and give recognition to personality of the medical and scientific world who have distinguished themselves in their own research and study.
