Franscesco Di Virgilio

Chairman of the Department of Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, University of Ferrara, Italy

  Prof. Di Virgilio is currently Professor of Clinical Pathology, Chairman of the Department of Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine and Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Inflammation at the University of Ferrara (Italy). He is also Director of the Postgraduate School in Clinical Pathology of Ferrara University Hospital. He attended as a medical student the University of Padova, where he graduated summa cum laude. He started his scientific training in mitochondrial biochemistry at the Institute of General Pathology (University of Padova), then moved to the University College (London) and to Columbia University (New York) to expand his research activity in the field of extracellular nucleotides and immunomodulation. His current research interests focus on the modulation of inflammation and innate immunity by extracellular nucleotides. He has authored of over 170 peer reviewed scientific articles. Prof. Di Virgilio was appointed to the "P2X receptor nomenclature committee" of the International Union of Pharmacology (IUPHAR) in November 2009.