Research Focus
At CeMM Maria Rescigno would like to revolutionize our understanding of the gut-brain axis, demonstrating that gut-derived immune stimuli can train the brain’s immune borders.
Maria Rescigno has been pioneering the study of the interaction between host and microbes. She has demonstrated that dendritic cells sample luminal antigens and bacteria for the establishment of oral tolerance (Nature Immunology 2001, 2005, Immunity 2007, 2014). She has described the existence of a gut vascular barrier that controls antigen and bacteria entrance in the systemic circulation (Science 2015). This barrier can be modified by bacteria and favor tumor cell metastatization to the liver (Cancer Cell 2021). She has recently identified a new vascular barrier in the choroid plexus that controls the dialogue between the brain and the rest of the organism and that is closed down during intestinal inflammation to protect the brain. (Science 2021).
She also improved protocols for cancer immunotherapy by understanding new immune-mediated mechanisms of actions of Cetuximab (Nature Medicine 2016) and of mytomicin C (Science Translational medicine 2021), novel immune checkpoint blocker CHI3L1 (Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer 2021) and recently immunotherapy via the use of bacterial metabolites (Cancer Cell 2023).
Biosketch
Maria Rescigno has been appointed Scientific Director of CeMM as of November 2025. She emerged as the best candidate in a highly competitive selection process conducted by an international hiring committee. Maria Rescigno is Full Professor at Humanitas University, where she has been Vice Rector for Research as well as Deputy Scientific Director and Group Leader at Humanitas Research Hospital, in Milan, where she leads the Immunology Program and the Mucosal Immunology and Microbiota Lab.
Maria Rescigno graduated in Biology in 1990 at the University of Milan. From 1991 to 1994 she worked at the University of Cambridge, UK, in the Department of Biochemistry, as a visiting scholar. From 1995 to 1999, she worked at the National Research Council of Milan where she received her PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology in 1999. From 1999 to 2001 she worked at the University of Milano-Bicocca where she specialized in Applied Biotechnology. From 2001 to 2017 she was the Director of the Dendritic cell biology and immunotherapy Unit at the Department of Experimental Oncology at the European Institute of oncology. In 2008-2013 she was visiting professor at the University of Oslo. Her entrepreneurial strengths are evidenced by several patents, and in 2016 she founded Postbiotica a microbiota-based start-up.
Maria Rescigno authored more than 250 publications in high impact journals and her research has been funded by prestigious ERC grants. She was nominated EMBO Young Investigator in 2007, elected EMBO Member in 2011 and since 2019 she has been Member and from 2024 chair of the EMBO Council. Maria Rescigno has received several awards including the The Pezcoller-Marina Larcher Fogazzaro-EACR Women in Cancer Research Award and is member of the Italian Academy of Science (Accademia dei Lincei).
Top 5 Publications
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Ferrari V, Lo Cascio A, Melacarne A, et al. Sensitizing cancer cells to immune checkpoint inhibitors by microbiota-mediated upregulation of HLA class I. Cancer Cell. 2023;41(10):1717-1730.e4. doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2023.08.014. (published paper)
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Carloni S, Bertocchi A, Mancinelli S, et al. Identification of a choroid plexus vascular barrier closing during intestinal inflammation. Science. 2021;374(6566):439-448. doi:10.1126/science.abc6108. (published paper)
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Bertocchi A, Carloni S, Ravenda PS, et al. Gut vascular barrier impairment leads to intestinal bacteria dissemination and colorectal cancer metastasis to liver. Cancer Cell. 2021;39(5):708-724.e11. doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2021.03.004. (published paper)
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Oresta B, Pozzi C, Braga D, et al. Mitochondrial metabolic reprogramming controls the induction of immunogenic cell death and efficacy of chemotherapy in bladder cancer. Sci Transl Med. 2021;13(575):eaba6110. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aba6110. (published paper)
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Spadoni I, Zagato E, Bertocchi A, et al. A gut-vascular barrier controls the systemic dissemination of bacteria. Science. 2015;350(6262):830-834. doi:10.1126/science.aad0135. (published paper)
Please visit Maria Rescigno's Google Scholar profile for a complete list of publications.
