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Mariagrazia Pizza

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Vaccine researcher and academic
Mariagrazia PizzaMAE
BornEboli, Italy
Alma materUniversity of Naples Federico II
AwardsEMBO Member (2000)
Scientific career
FieldsVaccines
Pathogenesis
Institutions

Mariagrazia Pizza MAE is an Italian vaccine researcher who is a professor at Imperial College London. She worked as Senior Scientific Director for Bacterial Vaccines at GSK plc. She was involved with the development of the first pertussis vaccine. In 2023, she was awarded the IVI-SK bioscience Park MahnHoon Award.

Early life and education

Pizza was born in Eboli, Italy and lived there until 1980. She studied chemistry and pharmaceutical science at the University of Naples Federico II. Her dissertation used nuclear magnetic resonance to explore the structure of opioid peptides. When a family member became ill, she decided to learn more about pharmaceutical design. She moved to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, where she learnt molecular biology and engineering.

Research and career

Pizza has focused on the design and development of new vaccines. In 1986, she joined Sclavo, a vaccine research centre in Siena. She spent six years there, contributing to the development of the first pertussis vaccine, which was able to protect infants, and was safer and more immuno-active than other pertussis vaccines on the market. Sclavo was sold to Chiron, which was eventually acquired by Novartis. Motivated by their success and advances in whole genome sequencing, Pizza started working on a Meningococcal vaccine. She joined GSK plc in 2016.

In 2023, Pizza joined the faculty at Imperial College London. She is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Leicester.

Awards and honours

Selected publications

Personal life

Pizza has two children.

References

  1. ^ Anon (2000). "Mariagrazia Pizza". people.embo.org. European Molecular Biology Organization. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  2. ^ Mariagrazia Pizza publications indexed by Google Scholar Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ Anon (2018). "Academy of Europe: Pizza Mariagrazia". ae-info.org. Academia Europaea. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  4. Mariagrazia Pizza publications from Europe PubMed Central
  5. Pizza, M. (2000). "Identification of Vaccine Candidates Against Serogroup B Meningococcus by Whole-Genome Sequencing". Science. 287 (5459): 1816–1820. Bibcode:2000Sci...287.1816.. doi:10.1126/science.287.5459.1816. PMID 10710308. S2CID 43349049.
  6. Pizza, Mariagrazia; Fontana, Maria Rita; Scarlato, Vincenzo; Rappuoli, Rino (1996). "Genetic Detoxification of Bacterial Toxins". Vaccine Protocols. 4: 91–110. doi:10.1385/0-89603-334-1:91. ISBN 0-89603-334-1. PMID 21359697.
  7. Mariagrazia Pizza on LinkedIn Edit this at Wikidata
  8. ^ Pizza, Mariagrazia (August 2011). "A life passion for vaccines" (PDF). Human Vaccines. 7 (8): 808–810. doi:10.4161/hv.7.8.17637. ISSN 1554-8600. PMID 22002174. S2CID 38618703.
  9. ^ Pizza, Mariagrazia (2017-01-12). "Spotlight on… Mariagrazia Pizza". FEMS Microbiology Letters. 364 (5): fnw299. doi:10.1093/femsle/fnw299. ISSN 1574-6968. PMID 28087618.
  10. Galvani, Rotary (2021-02-01). "Dr.ssa Mariagrazia Pizza, vaccini in tempo di pandemia". Rotary Bologna Galvani (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  11. Em, Aerie (2023-03-09). "Profs. Andrew Pollard / Sarah Gilbert and Drs. Rino Rappuoli / Mariagrazia Pizza named winners of second IVI – SK bioscience Park MahnHoon Award". IVI. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
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