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MATTEO IANNACONE

MD, PhD

Director, Division of Immunology, Transplantation, and Infectious Diseases

Head, Dynamics of Immune Responses

Professor of Pathology
San Raffaele Scientific Institute & University

Via Olgettina 58 - 20132, Milan, Italy 

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9370-2671
Scopus Author ID: 6507012016
Researcher ID: I-8507-2018
Google Scholar
https://www.unisr.it/docenti/l/iannacone-matteo
EDUCATION
Ancora 1
2011

PhD

PhD IN IMMUNOLOGY

Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

2007

EUROPEAN BOARD CERTIFICATION IN INTERNAL MEDICINE 

2001

M.D.

M.D. DEGREE

University of Milan, Italy

positions and training
2023-present

Director

DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF IMMUNOLOGY, TRANSPLANTATION AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2020-present

Associate Professor

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PATHOLOGY

San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2010-present

Group Leader

GROUP LEADER

San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2007-2010

Postdoc

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW

Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Advisor: Uli Von Andrian

2002-2006

Postdoc

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW

The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA

Advisors: Luca Guidotti and Frank Chisari

HONORS AND AWARDS

ERC Advanced Grant (2024)

“Alessandro Moretta - Ambasciatori della Ricerca” Prize from Il Cenacolo delle Scienze e della Cultura (2024)

ERC Proof of Concept Grant (2023)

Elected EMBO Member (2021)

Elected member of the Henry Kunkel Society (2020)

ERC panel member for Starting Grants LS6 "Immunity, Infection and Immunothepary" (2020)

Best 2019 Publication Award from the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF)

Chiara D'Onofrio Award (2017)

European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (2016)

EMBO Young Investigator Award (2016)

European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Young Investigator Award (2015)

ERC Starting Grant (2011)

Armenise-Harvard Foundation Career Development Award (2010)

Armenise-Harvard Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2008)

administrative and institutional responsabilities
2023-present

DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF IMMUNOLOGY, TRANSPLANTATION AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2023-present

STEERING COMMITTEE

Liver Center, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2020-2022

COMMITTEE FOR APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION

San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2014-2020

IMMUNOLOGY SEMINAR SERIES ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2017-2019

SCIENTIFIC BOARD

PhD program in Molecular Medicine, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

2015-2020

EXTERNAL SEMINAR COMMITTEE

San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
JOURNAL REVIEWER

Nature, Science, Cell, Nature Medicine, Immunity, Nature Immunology, Science Immunology, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Science Translational Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell Host & Microbe, Trends in Immunology, Cell Reports, Nature Communications, eLife, PLoS Pathogens, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Journal of Immunology, Journal of Virology, European Journal of Immunology, Heliyon, Mucosal Immunology.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

Department of Immunology, Institut Pasteur (2019); GentiBio (2023 – present).

COMMISSION OF TRUST

European Research Council (ERC) Panel Member for the LS6 Starting Grants (2021 – present), ATIP-AVENIR Program (LS6 Panel Member 2018 – present; LS6 Panel Chair 2022- present), Swiss National Science Foundation Panel Member (Division Biology and Medicine, 2023 - present), Chair of the Expert Committee at HCERES for the evaluation of INSERM and CNRS units (2022 – present), MED3 Panel Member for the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), COVID-19 Animal Models WHO Working Group (2021 – present), Singapore National Medical Research Council (Panel Member 2018 – 2020), Italian Association of Immunologists (SIICA) Executive Committee (2020 – 2021 and 2024 – 2027); Reviewer for the Liver Immunology abstracts at EASL Congress (2023 – 2025), EMBO Installation Grants Committee (2023 – 2027).

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION

1st International Workshop “Imaging the Immune System”, Milan, Italy (2014); International Workshop “Viral Immunity”, Milan (2016); 2nd International Workshop “Imaging the Immune System”, Rehovot, Israel (2016); 1st EMBO Sectoral Meeting on Immunology, Bergamo, Italy (2017); MACS day “T cells”, Milan, Italy (2017); 3rd International Workshop “Imaging the Immune System”, Paris, France (2018); 2nd EMBO Sectoral Meeting on Immunology, Lisbon, Portugal (2018); 1st EMBO Workshop “Pathogen Immunity and Signaling”, Oxford, UK (2019); 3rd EMBO Sectoral Meeting on Immunology, Cambridge, UK (2019); Global Immunotalks (Virtual Conference Series; 2021 – present); 4th International Workshop “Imaging the Immune System” (2021, virtual); 2nd EMBO Workshop “Pathogen Immunity and Signaling”, Saint-Malo, France (2022); 20th EMBO Workshop “Germinal Centers and Immune Niches”, Rehovot, Israel (2022); EMBO Annual Young Investigator Meeting, Milan, Italy (2023); 5th EMBO Workshop “Imaging the Immune System”, Lugano, Switzerland (2023); 20th International Microscopy Congress (Live Imaging of Cells, Tissues and Organisms sessions), Busan, Korea (2023); Gordon Research Conference, Immunochemistry and Immunobiology (2024, Co-Vice Chair); 3rd EMBO Workshop “Pathogen Immunity and Signaling”, San Servolo, Venice, Italy (2024); International HBV Meeting, Chicago, USA (2024); European Congress of Virology, Cavtat/Dubrovnik, Croatia (2025, Scientific Committee Member); Cell Bio 2025 (Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology), Philadelphia, PA (2025, Program Committee Member); Gordon Research Conference, Immunochemistry and Immunobiology (2026, Co-Chair); Cell Bio 2026 (Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology), TBD (2026, Program Committee Member).

GRANT REVIEWER

.European Research Council (ERC), UK Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Marie Curie Individual Fellowships, Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), French National Research Agency (ANR), La Caixa Foundation, Israel Science Foundation, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss Cancer League, Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Einstein Foundation Berlin, Helmholtz Association, Singapore Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), Singapore National Medical Research Council, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Science Immunology (2019 – present), Journal of Experimental Medicine (2023 – present), EMBO Journal (2022 – present; founding member of the Catalysts program), European Journal of Immunology (Executive Committee 2022 – present; Editor-in-chief, 2025 – present), hLife (2023 – present), Genes & Immunity (2023 – present), Virology (2023 – present), Review Commons (2021 – present), Faculty Opinion (2021 – present), Current Opinion in Virology (section editor of Viral Immunity in 2015 and 2022).

SELECTED INVITED LECTURES
(last 5 years)
2024
Program in Immunology, UC San Diego, CA (host: Elina Zuniga)
NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA (host: Susan Kaech)
Babraham Institute’s Distinguished Lecture Series, Cambridge, UK
Champalimaud Research Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal
Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Marseille, France (host: Marc Bajenoff)
GSK Global (host: Ennio De Gregorio)
ImmuneOctoberFest, Bridging innovation and translation in T cell immunotherapy, Munich, Germany
Division of Medicine and of Gastroenterology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (host: Rebecca G. Wells)
19th Armenise-Harvard Symposium, “Visualizing biology: from the nano to the macro scale”, Boston, MA
The Ragon Institute of Harvard and MIT, USA (host: Facundo Batista)
Summer School, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
European Association for the Study of the Liver, ILC2024, Milan, Italy 
Stiftung Experimentelle Biomedizin (SEB), Zurich, Switzerland
Bellinzona Institutes of Science (BIOS+), Switzerland
Retreat of the University of Geneva (Pathology and Immunology Department), Annecy, France (keynote)
6th International Conference of Translational Immunology, Monopoli, Italy
PhD Retreat of the Italian Association of Immunologists (SIICA), Otranto, Italy
ENII Summer School of Advanced Immunology, Alghero, Italy
Center for Applied Medical Research, Pamplona, Spain
Keystone Symposium on Myeloid Targeting Strategies, Killarney, Ireland
Annual Retreat of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Baveno, Italy
University of Rijeka, Croatia (host: Stipan Joniic)
EMBO PhD Course, Heidelberg, Germany
Beyond Science Initiative, 9th Annual International Conference (keynote)
Istituto Nazionale di Genetica Molecolare (INGM), Milan (host: Sergio Abrignani)
SIICA Advanced School of Immunology 
4th Midwinter Conference, Seefeld, Austria
2023

18th International Congress of Immunology, Cape Town, South Africa
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (host: Carmen Gerlach)
10th European Seminars in Virology (EUSEV), Bertinoro, Italy (keynote)
8th PhD Conference in Immunology, Czechia (keynote speaker)
International HBV Meeting, Kobe, Japan
The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea (host: In-Beom Kim)
IMMOX23 – Immunology across time and space, Oxford, UK
EMBO Workshop “Imaging the Immune System”, Lugano, Switzerland
European Association for the study of the Liver (EASL) Congress 2023, Vienna, Austria
Keystone Symposium on B cell biology in the context of infectious diseases, autoimmunity and B cell cancers, Keystone, CO (declined for conflicting schedule)
Division of Medicine and of Gastroenterology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (host: Rebecca G. Wells)
8th European Congress of Virology, Gdańsk, Poland
2023, AASLD HBV Special Interest Group Webinar on “Immune Tolerance in Chronic Hepatitis B: Mechanisms, Management and Controversies” 
Department of Immunology, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France (host: Pierre Bruhns)
Symposium in Immunothrombosis, Munich, Germany
Multimodal imaging in life sciences and cancer research, Lausanne, Switzerland

2022
Dutch Society for Immunology Annual Meeting, Leeuwenhorst (keynote)
Cluster Science Days 2022 Bonn, Germany (keynote)
FEBS-IUBMBM-ENABLE conference (The perfect tandem: how technology expands the frontiers of biomedicine), Sevilla, Spain (keynote)
9th European Seminars in Virology (EUSEV), Bertinoro, Italy (keynote)
6th IAAASS Innovative Approaches for Identification of Antiviral Agents, Pula (CA, Sardinia, Italy
CRC 841 Symposium “Tissue inflammation”, Hamburg, Germany
Immune OctoberFest, Bridging innovation and translation in T cell immunotherapy, Munich, Germany
EMBO Workshop on Germinal Centers and Immune Niches (GCC 2022), Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
1st Summer Symposium Systems Immunology “Network across scales”, Wurzburg, Germany 
9th ANRS HBV Cure Workshop, Lyon, France
Gordon Research Conference on Immunochemistry and Immunobiology, Spain
EMBL in Italy 2022: Emerging approaches in human health and infectious diseases, GSK Vaccines, Siena, Italy
XIII meeting of the Italian Society of Immunology (SIICA), Naples, Italy
Vir Biotechnology, Bellinzona, Switzerland (host: Davide Corti)
Ludwig Cancer Distinguished Seminar Series, Lausanne (host: Ping-Chih Ho)
2022, Distinguished Seminar Series, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT
Princeton University, USA (host: Alex Ploss)
Portuguese Society of Immunology (SPI) annual meeting, Lisbon, Portugal
King’s College, London, UK (host: Alberto Sanchez-Fueyo)
Scottish Immunology Groups Network, Perth, Scotland (keynote lecture)
European School of Molecular Medicine, Milan, Italy
2021

University of Salzburg, Austria (host: Iris Gratz)

Argentinean Society of Immunology, Cordoba, Argentina (keynote lecture)

University of Milan, Italy (PhD invited lecture)

University of Massachusetts Medical School (host: Andrea Reboldi)

International HBV Meeting, Toronto, Canada (keynote lecture)

Austrian Association of the Molecular Life Sciences and Biotechnology annual meeting, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria 

5th Innovative Approaches for Identification of Antiviral Agents Summer School (IAAASS), Cagliari, Italy

Swiss Society for Allergology and Immunology, Zurich, Switzerland 

French Germinal Center Symposium, Paris (keynote lecture)

Oxford Imaging Symposium, UK (host: Michael Dustin)

Immunology Seminar Series, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Global Immunotalk (hosts: Carla Rothlin and Elina Zuniga)

University of Fribourg, Switzerland (host: Jens Stein)

T cell connect Europe, Immunology lecture series

2020
Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany (PhD invited lecture)

Kantonsspital, St. Gallen, Switzerland (host: Burkhard Ludewig)

Louis Jeantet Symposium, Geneva, Switzerland 

Cambridge Immunology Network, UK (host: Menna Clatworthy)

Advanced School of Immunology, Italian Association of Immunologists (SIICA)

ANRS “Basic and Translation Research on Hepatitis Viruses”, Paris (keynote)

Keystone Symposium on Tissue Immunity, Boulder, CO

PATENTS
  • Iannacone M, Alexis F, Basto P, Moseman EA, Shi J, Langer RS, Farokhzad OC, von Andrian UH, Tonti E. Immunonanotherapeutics that Provide IgG Humoral Response without T-Cell Antigen, United States Patent 8,906,381 – licensed to Selecta Biosciences

  • Shi J, Alexis F, Iannacone M, Moseman EA, Basto P, Langer RS, Farokhzad OC, von Andrian UH, Tonti E. Targeting of Antigen Presenting Cells with Immunonanotherapeutics, United States Patent 9,308,280 – licensed to Selecta Biosciences

  • Alexis F, Iannacone M, Shi J, Basto P, Moseman EA, von Andrian UH, Langer RS, Farokhzad OC, Tonti E. Adjuvant Incorporation in Immunonanotherapeutics, United States Patent 9,439,859 – licensed to Selecta Biosciences

  • Iannacone M, von Andrian UH, Farokhzad OC, Frank A, Basto P, Shi J, Moseman EA, Langer RS, Tonti E. Nicotine Immunonanotherapeutics, United States Patent 8,932,595 – licensed to Selecta Biosciences

  • Von Andrian UH, Farokhzad OC, Langer RS, Tobias J, Moseman EA, Zhang L, Basto P, Iannacone M, Alexis F. Vaccine Nanotechnology, United States Patent 9,539,210 – licensed to Selecta Biosciences

  • Von Andrian UH, Iannacone M, Tonti E, Moseman EA. Vaccines Comprising Bisphosphonates and Methods of Use Thereof, United States Patent Application 20130309270

  • Summa V, Di Fabio R, Bencheva L, Donnici L, De Francesco R, Iannacone M, Guidotti LG. Inhibitors of Hepatitis B Virus, WO2020/016427

  • Summa V, Di Fabio R, Bencheva L, Donnici L, De Francesco R, Iannacone M, Guidotti LG. Cyclic Inhibitors of Hepatitis B Virus, WO2020016434

  • Summa V, Di Fabio R, Bencheva L, Donnici L, De Francesco R, Iannacone M, Guidotti LG. Tricyclic Inhibitors of Hepatitis B Virus (I), WO2020/030781

  • De Francesco R, Donnici L, Guidotti LG, Iannacone M, Bencheva LI, De Matteo M, Ferrante L, Prandi A, Randazzo P, Gornati D, Grillo A, Di Fabio R, Summa V. Oxalamido-substituted Tricyclic Inhibitors of Hepatitis B Virus (II), European Patent 19211249.8- 1110

  • Iannacone M, Guidotti LG, Naldini L, Cantore A, Ostuni R. Interleukin-2 gene therapy to restore antiviral T cell function in chronic HBV infection, UK Patent Application 1907493.9

  • Summa V, Di Fabio R, Bencheva L, De Matteo M, Ferrante L, Prandi A, Randazzo P, Gornati D, Grillo A, Ferrara M, Donnici L, De Francesco R, Iannacone M, Guidotti LG. Tricyclic Inhibitors of Hepatitis B Virus. WO2020/030781

  • Summa V, Di Fabio R, Bencheva L, De Matteo M, Ferrante L, Prandi A, Randazzo P, Gornati D, Grillo A, Ferrara M, Donnici L, De Francesco R, Iannacone M, Guidotti LG. Spirocyclic inhibitors of hepatitis B virus. WO2021/160617

  • Iannacone M, Guidotti LG. Agents and methods for increasing liver immune response. UK Patent Application 2018657.3 

CURRENT FUNDINGS

vEIColo (Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione CDP)

HEPB - Innovate

€ 40,000

2024

Gilead Sciences

INVESTIGATE EFFECTS OF PD1-TARGETED IL2V IN A HUPD1-KI HBV-TRANSGENIC MICE ADOPTIVE CELL TRANSFER MODEL

€ 510,000

2024 – 2027

Horizon Europe Framework Programme – Doctoral Network (101167421)

UNDERSTANDING FRAILTY TOWARDS A FUTURE OF HEALTHY AGING

€ 259,437

2025 – 2029

European Research Council – Advanced Grant (101141363)

ACQUIRED ADAPTIVE IMMUNE CELL DYSFUNCTION AND RESTORATION IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS B

€ 2,500,000

2024 – 2029

Medical Research Council – Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme

DEVELOPING AN INFECTION-BLOCKING PAN-CORONAVIRUS VACCINE

£ 350,000

2024 – 2026

European Research Council – Proof of Concept Grant (101138728)

SPIROCYCLIC CAMS AS NOVEL AND ULTRAPOTENT ANTI-HBV DRUGS

€ 150,000

2023 – 2024

AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research) - 5 per 1000 (22737)

ADVANCED IMMUNE GENE AND CELL THERAPIES FOR LIVER METASTASES

€ 950,000

November 2019 - October 2026

VIR Biotechnology

TO CHARACTERIZE THE IN VIVO EFFECT OF HUMAN MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES AGAINST HBV

€ 529,125

2023 - 2025

Italian Ministry for University and Research (Project no. PE00000007, INF-ACT)

EXTENDED PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE ON EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

€ 450,000

2023 - 2025

Italian Ministry for University and Research (PRIN 2022FMESXL)

MECHANISMS UNDERLYING DYSFUNCTIONAL CD8+ T CELL RESPONSES IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS B

€ 211,480

2023 - 2025

BlueJay Therapeutics

TO EVALUATE THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF THE PD-1/IL-21 ANTIBODY CYTOKINE FUSION

€ 21,000

2024

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