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Conference Speaker
Rino Rappuoli
Chief Scientist, Chiron Vaccines Research
Rino Rappuoli is Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Vaccines Research of Chiron Corporation and is based in Siena, Italy. His education includes stages at Rockefeller University (New York) and Harvard Medical School (Boston).
The main theme of Rino Rappuoli's research has been bacterial pathogenesis. Understanding the molecular mechanisms by which pathogens cause disease was used as a means for the rational design of innovative tools to prevent infection. Research activities have included the pathogens C. diphtheriae, B. pertussis, Enteropathogenic E. coli, V. cholerae, H. pylori and Meningococcus. He is co-founder of the field of cellular microbiology, a discipline that has merged cell biology and microbiology.
He has developed the first recombinant bacterial vaccine (against pertussis) and a conjugate vaccine against meningococcus C. Both products have been approved for human use. Currently, he is involved in the development of a vaccine against group B meningococcus using a genome-based approach, which has been termed reverse vaccinology, in the development of influenza vaccines produced in cell culture, and the development of vaccines against avian influenza.