Prof. Paolo Comoglio Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC), Italy

Paolo Comoglio graduated in Medicine at the University of Torino in 1969. He then studied Immunology with Herman Eisen at the Washington University in Saint Louis and, in 1973, studied the biological properties of neoplastic cells with Leonard Warren at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Returning to Italy in... read more1974 he became Associate Professor and then, in 1980, Full Professor of Histology at the University of Trieste Medical School. In 1983 he took on a position as Full Professor of Histology at the University of Torino Medical School. He has been Director of the Division of Molecular Oncology at the Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC) in Torino since 1996. He was then appointed IRCC Scientific Director in January 2000. Paolo Comoglio reached a significant milestone of his scientific activity when he developed new technologies for the study of oncogenes encoding tyrosine kinases (anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies and related technologies). By the end of 80's, through these tools, he identified the Scatter Factor Receptors encoded by the oncogenes MET and RON. More recently, his group discovered a family of genes encoding Plexins, the transmembrane receptor for Semaphorins, and demonstrated that these molecules cooperate with Scatter Factor Receptors in the control of cancer progression and metastasis.