Alberto Bardelli

Alberto Bardelli (Torino, 29 November 1967) is an Italian geneticist and cancer researcher, expert in the field of precision medicine. Full Professor of Histology at University of Turin|University of Torino and Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Oncology at Candiolo Cancer Institute FPO-IRCCS, Candiolo (TO), Italy.
== Carrer ==
Alberto Bardelli was born in Turin|Torino on 29 November 1967. He studied Biological Sciences at the University of Torino and received his master's degree in 1991. After graduation, he moved to the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in London and obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University College London (UCL).
From 1999 to 2004 Bardelli has been postdoctoral researcher at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Baltimore (MD/USA), in the group led by Prof. Bert Vogelstein. Here Bardelli began studying the genomics of cancer. During his postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins, Bardelli published multiple papers in high profile journals such as Nature and Science.
In 2004 he returned to Italy as director of a research unit dedicated to the study of tumour genomes at the Candiolo Cancer Institute and Dept. of Oncology, University of Torino.
Since 2016 he is Full Professor of Histology at University of Turin. 
From 2018 to 2020 he has been President of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR).
He is member of the scientific committee of the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC). 
In 2005 he was co-founder of the gene editing company Horizon Discovery.
== Research ==
Alberto Bardelli performed the first comprehensive mutational profile of kinases in colorectal cancers (CRC) and he has then translated these findings into clinical practice by discovering the molecular landscape of response and resistance to EGFR, HER2 and NTRK1 blockade in CRC. One of the main focus of his research is the study of the emergence and evolution of drug-resistant clones that can be restrained to improve the efficacy of anticancer agents to develop therapies that adapt to tumour’s evolution. To achieve this goal, his group leveraged integrated approaches including: genetic analysis of clinical samples, a large collection of CRC cellular models, patient derived xenografts (xenopatients) and liquid biopsies, an innovative methodology to monitor the genotype of tumours in the blood of patients. In the last years his studies uncovered the molecular bases of primary and acquired resistance to anti-EGFR therapies in colorectal tumours. These findings have been rapidly translated into clinically applicable predictive biomarkers, which are currently used to select patients for therapy and represent the first example of personalized medicine for colorectal tumours.
Moreover Bardelli investigated the use of immunotherapy as tool for precision medicine in CRC. His studies are built on an unconventional approach that an increased dynamic and mutational load in CRC cells can rouse an otherwise slack immune response, a vital requisite for effective immunosurveillance. So Bardelli’s team tweaked the clonal evolution of the tumour, via a pharmacological intervention, to provoke the persistent renewal of neoantigens. 
Bardelli’s studies are changing the landscape of precision medicine and his discoveries have been reported in high peer-reviewed scientific journals as Cancer Cell, Nature, JAMA, and Lancet Oncology.
Currently, Bardelli’s team use colorectal cancer models to establish a personalized treatment for patients, focusing on: 
- molecular heterogeneity and clonal evolution, both inter-patient and intra-tumour, to overcome the resistance to targeted therapies;
- immunotherapy to manipulate the patient’s immune system and to find new therapeutic options;
Bardelli’s team is composed of more than 20 member including biologists, PH students, technicians and bioinformatics.
== Citations ==
Bardelli has authored more than 200 scientific articles of which 100 as an independent investigator. His research papers have been cited over 40,000 times. Bardelli has been listed as Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Clinical Medicine in Clarivate Web of Science (2014, 2018-2020).
== Awards ==
2021 ERC Advaced Grant
2020 Guido Venosta Award, FIRC AIRC, Presidenza della Repubblica Italiana
2019 Elected Member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars
2017 ESMO Translational Research Award
2017 Fellow of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
2016 Grant for Oncology Innovation Award (GOI)
2015 Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences
2015 Fellow of the Turin Academy of Sciences
2004 The Alfred Blalock Research Award - Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore USA
1996 Cecilia Cioffrese -Cancer Research Award, Carlo Erba Foundation
1994 Francesca e Ferdinando Quartero, Cancer Research Prize, Italian Cancer Association 
1994 VIII Mascia Brunelli-Award, Italian Cell Culture Association
== Honours ==
Bardelli was appointed “Officer" of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2021. 
Category:Italian geneticists
Category:1967 births