Dr. Luca Vannucci

Brief Biography:

Dr. Luca Vannucci was born in Viareggio (IT) on 1956.
On 1981 graduated in Medicine at the University of Pisa (IT), and here he took also his specializion in General Surgery.
On 1991 he specialized in Oncology at the University of Milan (IT).
On 2008 has obtained the PhD in immunology at the Charles University in Prague.
On 1986 he was winner of a Rotary International Fellowship, and he spent 2 years as Research Fellow at the University of Chicago (Dept. of Surgery at the Billings Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA, with Prof. F. Michelassi and Prof. G.E. Block), and obtained the diploma with commendation par excellence at the course on Experimental Carcinogenesis under the guide of Nobel Laureate Prof. C.B. Huggins (Ben May Laboratory, Chicago, IL, USA).
On 1994 (reviewed on 2004) he published an original model of colorectal carcinogenesis in the rat that he currently uses in his studies.
After working as a surgeon, teacher and cancer researcher at the Department of Oncology, Transplantation and New Technologies in Medicine of the University of Pisa, since 1999 jointed the Laboratory of Natural Cell Immunity of the Department of Immunology and Gnotobiology of the Institute of Microbiology v.v.i. at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, becoming part of the scientific staff since 2006.
From 2009 he is director of this laboratory.
From 2010 is elected member of the Council of the Czech Immunological Society.
From 2011 appointed as an expert by the French National Institute of Cancer.
From 2001 until 2007 he has been visiting professor at the 1st Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague for lectures on experimental surgery and surgical oncology, and from 2009 he is giving lectures at the Czech Technical University.
He received awards from the University of Padua (1991), the Italian Society of Microwaves (1998 and 2008), the Cancer Society of Pakistan in Lahore (1997), the Surgical Society of Nepal (1998), the 13th World Congress on Advances in Oncology, Crete, Greece (2008), Italian-Czech Commercial Chamber (2010) for his activity and researches about cancer immunity and treatments, 1st Prize for Research Poster at the 23rd Pezcoller Symposium in Trento, Italy (2011).
In 2010 has give two invited lecture at the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Health in USA.
From 2010 his biographical sketch is published on Who’s Who in The World, from 2011 also in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, and selected for 2012 Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare.
Since 1988 actively participates to national and international congresses as lecturer and chairperson, with invited and key-note lectures. He is author of 4 chapters in books, and 50 scientific papers about cancer and immunity arguments published on in impacted and not impacted scientific journals, and proceedings papers (401 citations in international scientific literature). The paper: “Colorectal carcinogenesis in germ-free and conventionally reared rats: different intestinal environments affect the systemic immunity.” Int J Oncol. 2008, was recently cited in review-articles published on ANNUAL REVIEW OF IMMUNOLOGY (2010),  NATURE REVIEWS GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY  (2011), NATURE REVIEWS IMMUNOLOGY (2011).
He is member of the editorial board of Molecular Medicine Reports (Athens/London) and Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine and of Journal of Hainan Medical University (Hainan, China). Reviewer for various national and international scientific journals and grant agencies of Czech Pepublic, Slovakia, France,  Israel, New Zealand.
Organizer of the First Workshop in Immunology on Natural Immunity and Cancer (Prague 12-23 April 2010) for young Czech scientists, 116 participants, lectures from 7 of most important immunologists in the field. http://www.biomed.cas.cz/IICW2010

Academic positions:

At present not academic positions, but collaborations with the Charles University (Faculty of Medicine) and the Czech Technical University in Prague (Faculty of Electrotecnics and with lectures on immunology and oncology; tutor for PhD students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Charles University, Prague; consultant for co-tuturing of students of the Dept. of Electromagnetic Fields, Faculty of Electrotechnics, Czech Technical Univesity Prague (anticancer hyperthermia with microwaves and heat immunobiological effects)

Research interests:

The researches of Dr. Vannucci and his team are devoted to the study of the relationships between initial development of tumors and antitumor response of the organism, in particular the biological and immunological mechanisms of tumor development in its microenvironment. Consequently, we are looking to the development of new approaches in anticancer therapy by reactivating the depressed immune response and by targeting directly the tumor cells and microenvironment. In collaboration with the Technical University in Prague and CNR-Pisa (IT) we are studying application of hyperthermia generated by electromagnetic fields, and with the CNR-Rome and University “La Sapienza”, Rome (IT) we are developing direct antitumor treatment and diagnosis by specific nanoparticles.

In synthesis: cancer microenvironment immunology, anticancer immunotherapy, anticancer hyperthermia, targeted nano-theragnostics, experimental cancer modeling in animals in conventional and germ-free conditions, and morphofunctional imaging by new confocal microscopy techniques 

What I think of the idea behind WebmedCentral:

I think that it is a great idea, permitting an effective tool for better communication of scientific results as well as ideas. This is also a very powerful way to consent access to a worldwide audience by scientific groups of developing nations, until now with less voice and opportunities, a great occasion to push and recognize their professional achievements.