Cantore Alessio Professore AssociatoMedicineBIOS-13/A - Istologia ed embriologia umana

Alessio Cantore is Associate Professor of Tissue Biology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and Group Leader at San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) – San Raffaele Scientific Institute. He is currently responsible for the liver gene therapy research unit, and he supervises a group of >10 people. His research interests span lentiviral vector engineering, liver tissue dynamics, and the translational applications of liver-directed gene transfer and gene editing. His recent research efforts focused on two distinct but interconnected areas, one more basic in the space of liver stem cells and tissue dynamics, and one more translational in the space of inherited diseases of hepatic metabolism.

He has started his laboratory training in Prof. Gianpaolo Bagnara’s laboratory at the University of Bologna, working on mesenchymal stromal cells, then continued his training as an undergraduate student at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) under the supervision of Prof. Luigi Naldini and Dr. Brian D. Brown (now Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine), where he contributed to the optimization and testing of microRNA-regulated lentiviral vector design. He has then been admitted to the competitive international Ph.D. Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology jointly run by “Vita-Salute San Raffaele” University, Milan, and the Open University, London, under the supervision of Prof. Luigi Naldini (SR-Tiget), Prof. Thierry VandenDriessche (Free University of Brussels), and Prof. Maria Grazia Roncarolo (currently at Stanford School of Medicine). During the Ph.D. and subsequent early post-doctoral training, he undertook comprehensive studies aimed at developing liver-directed gene therapy with lentiviral vectors, by evaluating its feasibility, safety, and efficacy, improving its potency, strengthening and broadening its possible applications, utilizing both small and large animal models. He has also contributed to the negotiations of a strategic alliance between SR-Tiget and the biotechnology company Biogen, aimed at jointly developing lentiviral gene therapy for hemophilia A and B. As Project Leader, his efforts have exploited gene targeting to generate immune shielded lentiviral vectors with improved safety and efficacy for in vivo administration and culminated in designing and supervising the first studies of in vivo intravenous administration of lentiviral vectors in non-human primates.

Together with Luigi Naldini, Telethon Foundation, and San Raffaele Scientific Institute, he has funded the start-up GeneSpire, aiming to pre-clinically and clinically develop liver-directed lentiviral gene therapy to treat rare inherited diseases affecting liver function, backed by Sofinnova investment funds.

Awards

2017 Giuseppe Bigi Memorial Abstract Achievement Award, American Society of Hematology
2018 Young Investigator Award, ESGCT
2019 Excellence in Research Award, ASGCT
2023 Excellence in Research Award (as mentor), ASGCT
2024 Excellence in Research Award (as mentor), ASGCT
2026 Outstanding New Investigator Award, ASGCT