Distinguished Lecturer Seminar Series

Maria Rescigno - Humanitas

Date: 05.05.2026

Time: 09:30

Location: BioQuant Seminar Room

Hosts: Jens Puschhof, Stefania del Prete

Titel: "The microbiota in cancer progression and treatment"

About:

Maria Rescigno (H-index 77) is Scientific Director Research Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM) Vienna, AT and Full Professor General Pathology Humanitas University, Milan, IT. She graduated in Biology in the University of Milan and received her PhD in Pharmacology and toxicology. She was the first to show that dendritic cells actively participate to bacterial uptake in the gut and the existence of a gut vascular barrier that resembles the blood brain barrier. She authored more than 220 publications in high impact journals, including Science, Nature Immunol, Immunity, J. Exp Med., Science TM. She has been the recipient of three ERC grants (starting, proof-of-concept and consolidator). She seats in the technical and scientific board of several charities, funding agencies and in different companies. She received several awards (“Premio Roma per lo sviluppo del Paese”, 2022 and the prestigious PezcollerMarina Larcher Fogazzaro-EACR Women in Cancer Research Award, 2023), including an honourable mention from Belgian Embassy, 2022. In 2016 Maria Rescigno founded Postbiotica s.r.l. a spin-off of the University of Milan that exploits microbiota-derived metabolites as new pharmaceutical agents.

Abstract:

The involvement of the microbiota in cancer progression and treatment has for long been proposed. The microbiota can affect tumor cell proliferation and death, the immune system and the tumor microenvironment. We have observed a reduction in one particular strain capable of controlling tumor cell proliferation 1. Further, Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), has drastically improved treatment of metastatic cancer patients. Microbiota composition has been proposed to be one of the reasons for failure or success. ICB works via the activation or reactivation of T cells that are ‘switched off’ by tumor cells or by the tumor microenvironment. Even advanced metastatic disease, previously considered as untreatable, can benefit from cancer immunotherapy. However, still a good proportion of patients does not respond to therapy or acquires resistance during treatment. Some genera or species of bacteria have been associated with treatment response or toxicity, but as the composition of the microbiota is not static, rather, it is very dynamic there is promise that by changing the microbiota composition, or by harnessing the microbiota ‘secrete’ tricks, one can improve treatment efficacy or reduce toxicity. Several players, including diet, prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics have been proposed to shape the microbiota. We found that it is possible to train the microbiota to increase ICB efficacy and to reduce toxicity via the use of postbiotics 2, but we also know that the microbiota can influence cancer treatment by metabolizing chemotherapeutic drugs. We will discuss both possibilities.

Dr. Amy Berrington de Gonzalez - Institute of Cancer Research

Date: 26.05.2026

Time: 14:00

Location: Main Auditorium

Hosts: R. Turzanski Fortner

Titel: to be announced

About:

Berrington de González was on the faculty at the University of Oxford and then Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health before moving to the Radiation Epidemiology Branch at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2008. She was awarded NIH scientific tenure in 2012, and was promoted to Branch Chief in 2014. 
In 2022, she took up the position of Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the in London, UK. Berrington de González serves on two radiation risk committees for the National Academy of Science and previously served on the UK Health Protection Agency's Advisory Group on Ionising Radiation, and the UK Breast Screening Programme's Advisory Group. She is currently Vice Chair of the NAS Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board and has participated in many national and international radiation committees. She served on the editorial board for the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Berrington de González is co-PI of the UK Pediatric CT scans cohort, which was the first epidemiological study to suggest a direct link between CT scans and subsequent cancer risk. She also leads studies on the risk of second cancer after proton therapy and other emerging radiotherapy techniques.
The overarching goal of Prof Berrington's research is to quantify the potential cancer risks from this important source of radiation exposure in order to provide information for public health and clinical purposes. Her interdisciplinary training in epidemiology and biostatistics allow her to pursue this goal using both theoretical risk projection modeling and also by conducting epidemiological studies of medically exposed populations. The studies vary across the dose-spectrum from low-dose diagnostic and screening procedures to high-dose radiotherapy, with distinct opportunities and challenges in each area.

Prof. Dr. Gabriel Adrian Rabinovich - University of Buenos Aires

Date: 18.06.2026 

Time: 11:00

Location: Main Auditorium

Hosts: M. Platten, D. A. Agardy

Titel: to be announced

About:

Dr. Gabriel Rabinovich completed his doctoral studies at the School of Chemical Sciences, National University of Córdoba. Currently, he is the Director of the Laboratory of Immunopathology at the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine in Buenos Aires. He is a Senior Investigator of the Argentinean National Research Council (CONICET) and Full Professor of Immunology at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires. Together with his group, he identified a novel paradigm based on lectin-glycan interactions that plays a key role in the control of immune and vascular programs. Briefly, he demonstrated that galectins, a family of β-galactoside-binding proteins, can translate glycan-containing information into novel regulatory programs that control inflammation, suppress autoimmune pathology and allow cancer cells to evade immune responses and promote angiogenesis and metastasis. His findings opened new therapeutic possibilities in cancer, chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases. He has recently co-founded Galtec Life, a biotechnology Startup, aimed at translating galectin-based discoveries into new therapies for patients with cancer, autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. 

He has published more than 300 articles, several in high profile journals including Cell, Nature, Cancer Cell, Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine, Immunity, Science Advances, PNAS and Journal of Experimental Medicine. His work was recognized with several awards including the Karl Meyer Award, the most important recognition given by the Society of Glycobiology (USA), TWAS in Medical Sciences (Italy), John Simon Guggenheim Award (USA), Outstanding Investigator of the Nation (Argentina), Bunge & Born Award (Argentina), Bernardo Houssay award (Argentina) and Konex Diamond Award to the most outstanding scientist of the decade in Argentina. 

Itai Yanai - NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Date: 01.10.2026

Time: 11:00

Location: Main Auditorium

Hosts: C. Plass

Titel: to be announced

About:

Itai Yanai is a Founding Director of the Institute for Computational Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is also a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU. Yanai has published extensively in bioinformatics and theory.  He has also done seminal experimental research in cell biology.

In 2016 Yanai co-authored a popular book; “The Society of Genes”, for the general public.
Together with Martin J. Lercher, Yanai has written a series of editorials on the creative side of the scientific process, which he called "Night Science" in reference to François Jacob. He also co-hosts a popular podcast with the same name.

Prof. Benjamin Tu  - UT Southwestern Medical Center

Date: 09.10.2026

Time: 11:00

Location: Main Auditorium

Hosts: A. Teleman, J. Cleland

Titel: to be announced

About

Dr. Benjamin P. Tu is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He received his A.B. and A.M. degrees in Chemistry from Harvard College in 1998, where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. James C. Wang. He then received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco in 2003 under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan S. Weissman. He pursued postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Dr. Steven L. McKnight in the Department of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern. He started his own lab at UT Southwestern in 2007. He currently holds the titles of UT Southwestern Presidential Scholar, Martha Steiner Professorship in Medical Research, and W.W. Caruth, Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research. He was appointed as an HHMI Investigator in Nov 2021.