HT Director Zerial Awarded Mercurio Prize for Excellence in Research
19 September 2024
HT Director Zerial Awarded Mercurio Prize for Excellence in Research
The Human Technopole Director, Marino Zerial, has been awarded the 2024 Mercurio Prize in the “Research and Development” category, in recognition of the excellence of his research in the field of cell biology. Zerial, renowned for his studies on the mechanisms of endocytosis and cellular transport, has made significant contributions to the understanding of cellular dynamics, with potential therapeutic applications for diseases such as liver conditions.
The Mercurio Prize, established by the Italian-German Association MERCURIO, celebrates companies and individuals who strengthen economic and cultural ties between Italy and Germany each year. The award ceremony took place on 18 September 2024 in Frankfurt am Main, with the attendance of institutional and business representatives from both countries.
The prize jury, made up of prominent figures from the Italian-German economic and academic world, praised the winners for their contributions to innovation, sustainability, and economic growth.
Human Technopole researchers have identified the molecular mechanisms by which the membrane receptor sortilin binds thyroglobulin along its pathway to the release of thyroid hormones within the thyroid gland. The results of the research were published in Nature Communications and highlight that sortilin senses thyroglobulin via a short flexible “tag” which appears to be a common motif for the recognition of other partner proteins throughout our body.
The AI4Life project, co-led by Florian Jug (Computational Biology Research Centre at Human Technopole) and Anna Kreshuk (EMBL), received the highest possible score in the European Commission’s final review, recognising its scientific impact and the quality of its achievements in applying artificial intelligence to biological image analysis.
The Giustacchini Group of the Genomics Research Centre of Human Technopole has been awarded a €1.66 million grant from the Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS 2) to advance precision immunotherapy for haematological malignancies. The three-year project, titled “Tailoring Precision Immunotherapy to Haematological Malignancies”, aims to develop more effective cell-based therapies for blood cancers by integrating molecular, cellular and systems-level analyses.
Turning scientific discoveries into real-world therapies was the focus of the second international conference “Future Trends in Translational Medicine – From Molecules to Therapies,” held at the Complesso Universitario di San Giovanni a Teduccio in Naples on 30 -31 October 2025.
As 2025 comes to a close, we look back at a year shaped by connection, discovery and growth. At Human Technopole, progress happens when perspectives meet, between disciplines, technologies and people. Our holiday card captures this idea visually: what looks like a festive forest is actually a colon under the microscope, a structure that changes depending on how you look at it, reminding us that science often begins with a shift in perspective.
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