Maurizio Ferrari

Maurizio Ferrari, (M.D.), is Full Professor of Clinical Pathology, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Director of Clinical Molecular Biology and Cytogenetics Laboratory, and Head of Genomic Unit for the Diagnosis of Human Pathologies, Division of Genetics and Cell Biology, IRCCS San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. He received his Degree in Medicine at the Milan University, is Specialized in Pediatrics, Haematology and Medical Genetics. He was Post-doc at Hospital Paul Brousse, Villejuif, Paris and Honorary Registrar in Haematology at UCH, London.

He was Scientific Coordinator of Clinical Research, IRCCS H San Raffaele, Milan (1996-1999), Chairman of Committee on Clinical Molecular Biology  Curriculum of IFCC (2002-2007), member of the Education and Management Division  of IFCC (2008-2011).

He was Chairman of the Education and Management Division of IFCC (2012-2014), member of IFCC Task Force on Pharmacogenetics (from 2008), advisor of CLSI Committee on Molecular Methods.

He is Dean of Master Degree in Molecular and Cellular Medical Biotechnology (2008 at present) and President of the European Society of Predictive Medicine (2009 at present).

His scientific interests are oriented mainly on molecular diagnostic methods, nucleic acid circulating in maternal plasma, molecular studies of several genetic pathologies. He developed methods for DNA analysis as multiplex PCR and capillary electrophoresis also in a temporal thermal gradient, set up a method involving the ligase chain reaction (LCR) and developed a new method known as double-gradient DGGE (DG-DGGE) for the identification of unknown mutations. In the last 4-5 years he has focused his research activity on the detection of foetal DNA in maternal plasma for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis and for diagnostic application in the genetic and oncology field. At present, his research is focused on the development of diagnostic tests with the application of the next generation sequencing.