Massimiliano Pagani
I am a 50 years old PhD currently responsible for the Molecular Oncology and Immunology lab at the IFOM - the FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology in Milan and Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Milan (Italy). After the PhD (1996-2000, in the lab of R. Sitia, at the San Raffaele Research Centre in Milan), my research career is clearly divided in two parts: I spent eight years (2000-2008) in an Italian Biotech company, PRIMM (Milan, Italy) where I have combined my research activities with growing managerial responsibilities from Staff Scientist to Head of R&D.
In June 2008, I have been offered the challenging task of establishing a new translational research group in the area of human immunology (Integrative Biology Program) at the National Institute of Molecular Genetics (INGM).
In 2013 I have been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the ERC to investigate the role of Long non-coding RNAs of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes as novel anti-cancer therapeutic targets; I have been appointed as Associate (January 1st 2015) and then as Full Professor (April 1st 2018) of Molecular Biology in the Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine at the Università degli Studi di Milano.
A start-up company (CheckMab?) has been created in 2018 stemming from my research activities on the identification of cell surface molecules selectively present on tumour infiltrating lymphocytes that could be novel therapeutic targets for cancer.
Since 2018 I am coordinating the Master in Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics at the Università degli Studi di Milano that is intended for students who are interested in the application of advanced bioinformatics and computational approaches to complex biological questions.
In 2019, following the growing interest for the exploitation of organoids technology for disease modeling, I have promoted the creation of the Human Organoid Models Integrative Center “Homic” with the generous support of Fondazione “Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi” and Università degli Studi di Milano.
