The University of Insubria will award an Honorary Degree in Medicine and Surgery to Professor Robert C. GALLO, Director of the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore USA. The ceremony will be held in Varese on Monday 29 May 2006 at 5.00 pm in the Aula Magna in Via Ravasi 2.
Prof. Gallo is an internationally renowned scientist, recognized as a world leader in the fields of Virology, Immunology and Oncology.
Your Lectio doctoralis is entitled “HIV/AIDS Research – Then and Now”.
We owe him some of the marking discoveries of Medicine of the last 30 years such as the first demonstration of the existence of oncogenic human retroviruses such as the T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV-1 and HTLV-2), the first demonstration of the existence of growth factors for T lymphocytes (T cell growth factor, TCGF, subsequently designated IL-2), and finally the discovery, together with Prof. Montagnier of the Institut Pasteur, of the causal agent of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS ), the HIV virus.
In Italy, to which he is closely linked due to his origins, prof. Gallo gave birth to the “Research and Progress Foundation” whose mission is to foster, promote and support Italian scientific research in the biomedical field by creating an open network between the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore and Italian universities and research institutes, in order to train young Italian researchers and facilitate their return to their homeland at the end of their stay abroad.
Beyond his scientific merits, Prof. Gallo has always worked and works to support aid and health care in the most underdeveloped countries affected by the scourges of poverty and disease.
1976: Discovery of the first hormone and T-cell growth factor (TCGF), later designated Interleukin-2, which revolutionized Immunology and Oncology by allowing T lymphocytes, blood cells, to grow in vitro very important for their function of control of the immune response, and to understand the mechanisms of activation. This factor is now used in many clinical applications, including cancer and AIDS therapies.
1980-1982: Discovery of the first human oncogenic viruses, the HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 retroviruses. The retrovirus HTLV-1 is responsible for adult human T-cell leukemia.
1983: Discovery, together with the group of prof. Montagnier, of the HIV retrovirus, responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS. Setting up of the diagnostic test for HIV seropositivity in blood.
1995-1996: Discovery of the first natural inhibitors of HIV infection, beta chemokines. This discovery was recognized as the most important scientific discovery in the biomedical field of the year 1996.
Prof. Gallo was the most cited scientist in the world in the decade 1980-1990.
We look forward to your presence and the journalistic coverage you want to give to the event.
Best regards, Alessandra Lupis
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Alessandra Lupis
University of Insubria
Press office
Via Ravasi 2, 21100 Varese
Tel. 0332 219040
Fax 0332 219049
E-mail: alessan
