Napoleone Ferrara

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Napoleone Ferrara (center)

Napoleone Ferrara (born July 26, 1956 in Catania , Italy ) is an Italian - American angiogenesis researcher at the University of California, San Diego .

Life

Ferrara graduated in 1981 his studies in medicine at the University of Catania in Catania , Italy with an MD from. At the university hospital there, he worked in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics from 1981 before moving to the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco in San Francisco , California as a research assistant in 1983 . In 1985/1986 he worked in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland , Oregon , before joining the Cancer Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral fellow . From 1988 to 2013, Ferrara worked as a researcher in the molecular oncology department at the biotechnology company Genentech in San Francisco. In 2013 he moved to the University of California, San Diego .

Act

Ferrara initially worked in Denis Gospodarowicz's laboratory on the contribution of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) discovered by Gospodarowicz to normal and pathological angiogenesis. Following on from his endocrinological preliminary work, he also examined cultivated pituitary cells for the presence of angiogenic activity. In fact, he found an angiogenic activity in the supernatants of the cells that was not identical to FGF. During his subsequent tenure at Genentech, Ferrara would first work on the effects of relaxin on the reproductive system. In addition, he was allowed to pursue his own research goals. He succeeded in isolating the activity produced by pituitary cells and defining their protein sequence, and named them Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF). After cloning and recombinant expression, Ferrara worked with others to develop antibody molecules that inhibit VEGF. Ranibizumab (trade name Lucentis) and bevacizumab (trade name Avastin) were the first anti-angiogenic agents to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA (from 2004) . With these monoclonal antibodies , significant improvements in the treatment of wet macular degeneration , colorectal carcinoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma could be achieved.

More recent work by Ferrara deals with the Endocrine Gland Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (EG-VEGF), a VEGF that only acts in tissues of the endocrine system .

Due to the number of his citations, Clarivate Analytics has been one of the favorites for a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ( Clarivate Citation Laureates ) since 2018 .

Awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Scott La Fee: Three UC San Diego Researchers Elected to National Academy of Medicine. In: health.ucsd.edu. October 19, 2015, accessed February 6, 2016 .
  2. ↑ N. Ferrara, L. Schweigerer, G. Neufeld, R. Mitchell, D. Gospodarowicz: Pituitary follicular cells produce basic fibroblast growth factor . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 84 , no. 16 , August 1, 1987, ISSN  0027-8424 , p. 5773-5777 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.84.16.5773 , PMID 2441393 ( pnas.org [accessed October 18, 2018]).
  3. ^ Clarivate Analytics Reveals Annual Forecast of Future Nobel Prize Recipients. In: clarivate.com. Clarivate Analytics, September 20, 2018, accessed September 20, 2018 .
  4. ^ The Passano Awards 1945–2009 at passanofoundation.org; Retrieved June 11, 2011
  5. ^ Napoleone Ferrara wins 2006 GM Cancer Research Award. In: Cancer Biology & Therapy. 5, 2014, p. 704, PMID 17022136 doi: 10.4161 / cbt.5.7.3155 .
  6. ^ ASCO Recognizes Oncology Leaders for Outstanding Achievements and Service to the Society ( Memento April 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (asco.org); Retrieved June 11, 2011
  7. ↑ 2010 Lasker ~ DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award: Anti-VEGF therapy for wet macular degeneration at the Lasker Foundation (laskerfoundation.org); accessed on May 3, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Ferrara, Napoleone
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-American angiogenesis researcher
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Catania , Italy