In June 2025, two acknowledgements went to Luigi Naldini, Full Professor at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and Director of SR-Tiget, for his outstanding scientific contributions: the 2025 Assobiotec Award and the entrance of the Hall of Fame of the Premio Ancalau.

The Assobiotec Award is acknowledged every year to people who distinguished themselves in innovation, research and technology transfer by Assobiotec, the Italian Association of Federchimica for biotechnology development, which represents more than 110 companies, research institutes, IRCCS and technology parks working in biotechnology.

The “Premio Ancalau” is an award born in the Piedmont region of “Alta Langa” that aims at acknowledging people who dared – from the dialect word ancalau – that is, people embodying innovation, creativity and initiative.

Both awards celebrate the career and research efforts of Professor Luigi Naldini, a worldwide recognized innovator in gene therapy, where he pioneered the use of lentiviral vectors to treat severe genetic diseases and cancer. Lentiviral vectors are “shuttles”, derived from the HIV virus that are used to deliver the correct copies of genes or bioactive molecules (such as cytokines) to treat genetic diseases and cancer, respectively.

Throughout his career, Professor Naldini has been working to develop effective and safe gene transfer platforms and translate research findings into clinical practice. His work has provided novel insights on physiological and pathological mechanisms of hematopoiesis, immune tolerance and tumor angiogenesis.

Professor Naldini is the author of more than 280 scientific papers in international, peer-reviewed journals and the inventor of 34 patent families. He is the co-founder of three start-up companies: Genenta, Epsilon Bio (now acquired by n’Chroma Bio) and Genespire.

Under his guidance, a long list of alumni became influential researchers working at the forefront of gene therapy.

 

Written by: Laura Celotto

Published on: 25 June 2025