Biography:Rino Rappuoli

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Rino Rappuoli

ForMemRS
Rappuoli in 2016
Born (1952-08-04) 4 August 1952 (age 73)[1]
Radicofani, Italy
Scientific career
Fields
Websitewww.aditecproject.eu/about-aditec/project-management/dr-rino-rappuoli.html

Rino Rappuoli ForMemRS (born 4 August 1952) is an Italian immunologist. He is currently the Scientific Director of the Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena.[3] Previously, he served as Chief Scientist and Head of External R&D at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Vaccines, visiting scientist at Rockefeller University and Harvard Medical School, and held senior roles at Sclavo, Chiron Corporation, and Novartis Vaccines.[4][5][6]

Education

Rappuoli earned his doctoral and bachelor's degrees in biological sciences at the University of Siena.[7]

Career and research

He is known globally for his work in vaccines and immunology. He co-founded the field of cellular microbiology, a discipline combining cell biology and microbiology, and pioneered the genomic approach to vaccine development known as reverse vaccinology, a subsection of reverse pharmacology.[7]

Rappuoli joined Chiron as head of European vaccines research in 1992 with the acquisition of Italian vaccines company Sclavo SpA, where he served as head of research and development. He was subsequently the global head of vaccines research for Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics (Siena, Italy).[7] From 2015 to 2022, he served as Chief Scientist and Head of External R&D at the vaccines division of GlaxoSmithKline, based in Siena, Italy.[8] He is also a Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Siena.[7]

Major achievements include development of CRM197[9] used in Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis,[10] and pneumococcus vaccines; an acellular pertussis vaccine containing a genetically detoxified pertussis toxin; the first conjugate vaccines against meningococcus; MF59 adjuvant for influenza;[11][12] the meningococcus B genome-derived vaccine.[4][13]

During his career, he has introduced several novel scientific concepts: genetic detoxification in 1987;[14] cellular microbiology in 1996;[15] reverse vaccinology in 2000;[16] pan-genome in 2005.[4][17]

He has mentored a generation of vaccinologists, including Dirga Sakti Rambe and Melvin Sanicas.[18][19]

Honors and awards

Rappuoli is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 1991. He is a member of numerous international associations, including the European Molecular Biology Organization and the American Society for Microbiology. He also serves as a member of the research directors group of the European Commission and in 2005[7] was elected to National Academy of Sciences of the United States. He was also awarded the Italian President Gold Medal in 2005 and the Albert Sabin Gold Medal in 2009.[4] In 2013 he was nominated third most influential person worldwide in the field of vaccines by Terrapin. In 2015 he was awarded Fellowship of Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine and the Maurice Hilleman Award.[4]

In 2016 he was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society.[4]

In 2017 he received the European Inventor Award 2017 in the category of "Lifetime achievement" by the European Patent Office.[20] In 2019 he was awarded the Robert Koch Prize.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Curriculum vitae Rino Rappuoli". 2014-06-01. http://www.toscanalifesciences.info/images/trasparente/CV_R.Rappuoli.pdf. 
  2. ↑ "Rino Rappuoli - Google Scholar". https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZuRrPt8AAAAJ. 
  3. ↑ "Launch of the European Vaccines Hub for Pandemic Readiness". Institut Pasteur. 23 May 2025. https://www.pasteur.fr/en/press-area/press-documents/launch-european-vaccines-hub-pandemic-readiness-new-european-public-private-partnership-public. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Anon (2016). "Dr Rino Rappuoli ForMemRS". London: Royal Society. https://royalsociety.org/people/rino-rappuoli-12894/.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

    All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --"Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/. 
  5. ↑ Covacci, A. (1999). "Helicobacter pylori Virulence and Genetic Geography". Science 284 (5418): 1328–1333. doi:10.1126/science.284.5418.1328. PMID 10334982. Bibcode: 1999Sci...284.1328C. 
  6. ↑ Anon (2007). "Rino Rappuoli". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 6 (9): 694. doi:10.1038/nrd2419. PMID 17907342. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Trivedi, B. (2006). "Profile of Rino Rappuoli". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (29): 10831–10833. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604892103. PMID 16832044. Bibcode: 2006PNAS..10310831T. 
  8. ↑ "Dr Rino Rappuoli". http://www.aditecproject.eu/about-aditec/project-management/dr-rino-rappuoli.html. 
  9. ↑ Bröker, Michael; Costantino, Paolo; DeTora, Lisa; McIntosh, E. David; Rappuoli, Rino (2011). "Biochemical and biological characteristics of cross-reacting material 197 (CRM197), a non-toxic mutant of diphtheria toxin: Use as a conjugation protein in vaccines and other potential clinical applications". Biologicals 39 (4): 195–204. doi:10.1016/j.biologicals.2011.05.004. PMID 21715186. 
  10. ↑ Tettelin, H. (2000). "Complete Genome Sequence of Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup B Strain MC58". Science 287 (5459): 1809–1815. doi:10.1126/science.287.5459.1809. PMID 10710307. Bibcode: 2000Sci...287.1809.. 
  11. ↑ O'Hagan, Derek T; Ott, Gary S; Nest, Gary Van; Rappuoli, Rino; Giudice, Giuseppe Del (2014). "The history of MF59® adjuvant: a phoenix that arose from the ashes". Expert Review of Vaccines 12 (1): 13–30. doi:10.1586/erv.12.140. PMID 23256736. 
  12. ↑ O'Hagan, Derek T; Rappuoli, Rino; De Gregorio, Ennio; Tsai, Theodore; Del Giudice, Giuseppe (2014). "MF59 adjuvant: the best insurance against influenza strain diversity". Expert Review of Vaccines 10 (4): 447–462. doi:10.1586/erv.11.23. PMID 21506643. 
  13. ↑ Pizza, M. (2000). "Identification of Vaccine Candidates Against Serogroup B Meningococcus by Whole-Genome Sequencing". Science 287 (5459): 1816–1820. doi:10.1126/science.287.5459.1816. PMID 10710308. Bibcode: 2000Sci...287.1816.. 
  14. ↑ 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. 
  15. ↑ Cossart, P.; Boquet, P.; Normark, S.; Rappuoli, R. (1996). "Cellular Microbiology Emerging". Science 271 (5247): 315–316. doi:10.1126/science.271.5247.315. PMID 8553065. Bibcode: 1996Sci...271..315C. 
  16. ↑ Rappuoli, Rino (2001). "Reverse vaccinology, a genome-based approach to vaccine development". Vaccine 19 (17–19): 2688–2691. doi:10.1016/S0264-410X(00)00554-5. PMID 11257410. 
  17. ↑ Medini, Duccio; Donati, Claudio; Tettelin, Hervé; Masignani, Vega; Rappuoli, Rino (2005). "The microbial pan-genome". Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 15 (6): 589–594. doi:10.1016/j.gde.2005.09.006. PMID 16185861. 
  18. ↑ Rambe, Dirga Sakti; Sanicas, Melvin (2014). "Safety and Mechanism of Action of Licensed Vaccine Adjuvants". International Current Pharmaceutical Journal 3 (2): 243–246. doi:10.3329/icpj.v3i2.24024. https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/ICPJ/article/view/24024/16411. Retrieved 19 September 2025. "The authors would like to thank Prof. Rino Rappuoli for his valuable guidance and mentorship.". 
  19. ↑ Sanicas, Melvin (6 November 2021). "So happy to see one of my #Vaccinology mentors, Dr Rino Rappuoli, honoured by the President of the Italian Republic with the “Cavaliere del Lavoro” (Knight of Labour)". https://x.com/Vaccinologist/status/1457087613551222785. 
  20. ↑ "European Patent Office. European Inventor Award 2017, Venice, june 15 2017". http://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2017/20170615.html. 
  21. ↑ Robert Koch Prize 2019



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