Emilio Hirsch is Professor of Experimental Biology at the Medical School of the University of Torino. He is author of 237 publications, his works received around 17000 citations and his h-index (Google Scholar) is 72. EMBO and FISHR member.
He provided seminal contributions in the characterization of phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K) as drug targets in cancer (Science Signaling 2008, Cancer Cell 2011, 2014, 2017), inflammation (Science 2000, Immunity 2002), heart failure (Cell 2004, Molecular Cell 2011, Circulation 2011 and 2012), and obesity (Science Signaling 2014). He produced the first knockout mice for a PI3K catalytic subunit and demonstrated the role of PI3Kgamma in chemotaxis of leukocytes (Science 2000; PNAS 2007, Blood 2012). He collaborated with Merck-Serono in the characterization of the first isoform selective PI3Kgamma inhibitor (Nat Med 2005) and launched an academic spin off (Kither Biotech srl) exploiting his patented PI3K inhibitors for topical treatment. He was the first to demonstrate that PI3K are not only enzymes but also scaffold proteins (Cell 2004, Mol Cell 2011), showing that knock-in of a catalytically inactive mutant better models drug targeting than knock-out-mediated elimination of the protein. He demonstrated that PI3Kbeta has scaffold functions (Sci Signal 2008) and that PI3Kgamma associates with PKA to integrate PI3K and cAMP signaling (Cell 2004; Mol Cell 2011; Circulation 2012). More recently, he shifted his attention to class II PI3Ks and defined the role of PI3KC2alpha in endocytosis (Nature 2013) and primary cilium function (Dev Cell 2014; JASN 2015; Nat Com 2015). His work on the role of PI3KC2alpha in breast cancer opened a new way to precisely predict sensitivity to Taxane-based therapies, a mainstay in treatment but with so far variable and erratic efficacy (Gulluni et al., Cancer Cell, 2017).

Massimiliano (Max) Mazzone graduated in Medical Biotechnology at the Medical School of the University of Torino, Italy, and then performed his PhD in Cell Science and Technologies at the Institute for Cancer Research of Torino, under the supervision of Prof. Comoglio. In November 2006, he moved to Belgium as an EMBO-awarded postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Peter Carmeliet, at the University of Leuven, Belgium. Since October 2009, he is heading the Lab of Molecular Oncology and Angiogenesis, at the Center for Cancer Biology, part of VIB in Leuven, and, since 2017, he is Full Professor at the University of Leuven. Max Mazzone has contributed to the field of oncology understanding the mechanisms of cancer metastasis and to vascular biology identifying a new endothelial cell phenotype, the "phalanx" cell, which takes part in the formation of aligned blood vessels in perfused tissues. For this work (published in Cell), Dr. Mazzone was awarded by the Lorini Foundation. Since end of 2009 ,he is independent group leader and his team is focusing in studying the response of inflammatory cells to hypoxic and metabolic conditions in order to restore blood flow and regulate favorably the immune response in conditions such as cancer and ischemic pathologies. From there, Max got other important national awards (the Belgian Royal Academy Prize, the AIRC Price for excellence in science, EMBO awards, Chiara D’Onofrio Award, and recently the AstraZeneca Award) and international recognitions (ERC, EMBO, FEBS, Burgen Award, etc.). He is author more than 100 papers, with an average impact factor in first or senior corresponding author research papers of 21; more than 8000 citations; and an H-index of 40. He is member of the boards of several peer-reviewed journals (such as Cancer Research), he is reviewer for almost 20 journals, and he has been so far invited to speak in more than 100 national and international conferences (including GRC, Keystone, AACR, FEBS meetings, etc.). He held an ERC Starting grant, ERC Proof-of-Concept, and the EMBO Young Investigator Award, and currently he is running his ERC Consolidator grant. The translation and valorization of his work is proven by ongoing clinical trials, two spin-offs, a prospective study, numerous industrial collaborations (more than ten), drug screening programs, and a diagnostic kit licensed out to a Belgian company.

Jim C. Norman carried out his Ph.D. and first postdoctorate at the University of London, UK. He then moved to the University of Leicester, where he held a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award and established a group working on integrin recycling. In 2006, the Norman group moved to the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, where he continues to work on the role played by the trafficking of adhesion receptors in cancer cell signalling and motility, and how the vesicular transport machinery contributes to cancer metastasis. Jim is now the deputy Director of the CRUK-Beatson Institute and his group is now investigating the links between energy metabolism and receptor trafficking in cancer and stromal cells and how these processes influence the tumour microenvironment and priming of metastatic niches.

Education and research experience
2000-2008 • Research as MS and PhD student, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) and University of Barcelona. Team leader: Prof. Antonio Celada, PhD. Title of the Thesis: Macrophages and DNA damage: implications in aging and inflammation.
2009-2013 • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (PI: Raul Mostoslavsky, PhD, MD). Fields of study: sirtuins, epigenetics, metabolism, cancer.
2013-2017 • Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Assistant in Genetics, Massachusetts General Hospital. Fields of study: sirtuins, metabolism, stem cells and cancer.
2017-present • Junior Group Leader, Laboratory of Metabolic Dynamics in Cancer, Candiolo Cancer Institute-FPO, IRCCS, Torino, Italy. Fields of study: sirtuins, metabolism, stem cells and cancer.