On the occasion of the Italian Research Day, an initiative launched by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) to promote the important work of Italian scientists and researchers around the World, Professor Marco Giovannini, Director of the UCLA Neural Tumor Research Laboratory, and Dr. Filippo Giancotti, Scientific Director of the David H. Koch Center for Applied Research of GU Cancers at the University of Texas, Houston will present their research in Houston, TX.
Marco Giovannini, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor-in-Residence of Head and Neck Surgery at the UCLA. A native of Italy, Marco Giovannini received his MD and PhD from the University of Bologna. After postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, and Institut Curie in Paris, he began his scientific career as Chair of the Department of Functional Genomics of Solid Tumors at INSERM (Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale) in Paris. In 2008, he moved to the House Research Institute in Los Angeles as the Director of the Division of Translational Research and in 2013 he joined the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen Medical School at UCLA, Member of the Signal Transduction and Therapeutics Program Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC), and Founder and Scientific Director of the UCLA Multidisciplinary Neurofibromatosis Clinic.
A molecular geneticist by training, Marco Giovannini is a physician-scientist who conducts laboratory and clinical research, and is a world thought leader in the field of Neurofibromatoses and nervous system tumors. His NIH, Department of Defense and private foundation-supported research laboratory develops models of disease to test new therapeutic options and studies mechanism of action of treatments in patients.
Dr. Filippo G. Giancotti, MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Scientific Director of the David H. Koch Center for Applied Research of GU Cancers, Co-Leader of the Prostate Cancer Moon Shot™ program, and Olla S. Stribling Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research. Dr. Giancotti obtained his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Torino in Italy and performed postdoctoral studies with Erkki Ruoslahti at the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation in San Diego, California. In 1992, he established his own independent laboratory in the Department of Pathology of NYU School of Medicine. In 1996, he was recruited to the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he became full Member with Tenure in 2000. In 2016, he was recruited to UTMDACC as an Established Scholar of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Dr. Giancotti’s research program aims to understand the molecular changes that drive tumor progression and metastasis across cancer types and subtypes. His laboratory aims to elucidate the specific mechanisms that enable organ-specific colonization and identify biological mediators of these processes that can be targeted therapeutically.
Organized by the Italian Cultural Institute with the Consulate General of Italy in Houston, in collaboration with UCLA and ISSNAF.