Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna received the prestigious international European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) Young Cancer Researcher Award during the ECCO - ESMO Congress in Berlin.

Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna is based at IFOM (FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology) in Milan. The EACR (European Association for Cancer Research) is a highly regarded, international association that was founded in 1968 with the aim of promoting cancer research. Every year, the EACR presents the Young Cancer Researcher Award to young scientists who have made outstanding contributions to cancer research.

Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna was born in Udine in 1966. Following 7 years of research activity at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, UK, d’Adda di Fagagna set up the “Telomere and Senescence” research group at IFOM, which he has headed since 2003. His work has been published in prominent, international journals including Science, Nature Genetics and Nature.

Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna’s recent work has uncovered the complex mechanisms through which cells activate cellular senescence to avoid becoming cancerous. “Normal human cells protect against the onset of cancer by becoming prematurely old or ‘senescent’ ” explains d’Adda di Fagagna. “This phenomenon was first discovered in 1997; however, the mechanisms responsible for triggering cellular senescence following the activation of an oncogene were unknown.” The research conducted by d’Adda di Fagagna has shed light on these mechanisms: the activation of an oncogene, i.e. a mutated gene that causes cancer, prompts the activation of a safety mechanism, known as the checkpoint, which permanently arrests cell proliferation, causing cellular senescence and blocking cancer at the outset. “We are now determining the mechanisms responsible for permanent cell cycle arrest and investigating the therapeutic potential of our discoveries.”

“Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna’s contribution to cancer research is outstanding” remarked Professor Anne-Lise Borresen-Dale, President of EACR, when awarding the prestigious prize to the young Italian scientist during the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) – ECCO (European CanCer Organisation) Multidisciplinary Oncology Congress held in Berlin. On receiving the prize, d’Adda di Fagagna gave a special lecture, in which he described the results and future directions of his research at IFOM “This prize – declared d’Adda di Fagagna – is an unexpected honour and an extra incentive to produce high quality research”.



Watch an interview with Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna about his work on ecancertv here