Sirio Dupont is a unique individual in a family of artists and humanists. He made the unconventional choice to pursue a career in science, earning a Molecular Biology Master's Degree at the University of Padua. His passion for developmental biology led him to pursue a Ph.D., which he successfully completed in 2004, also at the University of Padua.
With outstanding results and an unyielding passion for his field, Professor Dupont entered the world of academia and became an Assistant Professor in 2006, still at the University of Padua. Throughout this journey, his family continued to grow, and he explored new research avenues. Notably, he achieved a 'once in a lifetime' discovery.
In 2013, Professor Dupont took the next step in his career by establishing an independent research group, once again, in Padua. Over the past decade, he has led this research group with enthusiasm, finding immense joy in scientific exploration. Alongside these professional accomplishments, his family continued to thrive, all with the constant presence of his supportive wife.
In recognition of his exceptional contributions to science and his unwavering dedication, Professor Dupont was appointed as a Full Professor in 2023, at the University of Padua.
Laurent Reber completed a Ph.D. at the University of Strasbourg in 2009, conducting research in the laboratory of Nelly Frossard. Following the completion of the Ph.D., they embarked on a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Steve Galli at Stanford University, where they focused on the biology of mast cells and their pivotal role in allergic diseases.
In 2016, Dr Reber was recruited by INSERM and joined the team led by Pierre Bruhns at Institut Pasteur in Paris. There, they continued their research endeavors, delving deeper into the mechanisms underlying allergic diseases and anaphylaxis.
In 2019, Dr Reber established the ATIP-Avenir team "Asthma, Allergy & Immunotherapy" at the INFINITy Institute in Toulouse, solidifying their commitment to advancing our understanding of these conditions. Notably, in 2022, they achieved the prestigious honor of receiving an ERC Consolidator Grant for their pioneering work in developing long-term therapeutic strategies to address IgE-mediated allergic diseases.
Emilio Hirsch is Professor of Experimental Biology at the Medical School of the University of Torino, Italy since 2005. He authored 301 publications, has an h-index of 90 (google Scholar), is EMBO member, FISHR, Scientific Director of the Molinette Research Foundation and Director of the Molecular Biotechnology Center.
Professor Hirsch is co-founder of Kither Biotech, a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies for rare pulmonary diseases with high unmet medical needs like Cystic Fibrosis and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. He provided seminal contributions in the characterization of phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K) as drug targets in cancer and inflammation.
Lately, he focused his studies on the role of class 2 PI3K and found that the gene PIK3C2A is essential for cytokinesis. Children with loss of function mutations show cell refusion leading to cellular senescence and premature aging (Gulluni et al., Science 2021).