Current position: Full Professor – Academic Discipline MED/49

Prof. Gianfranco Peluso graduated magna cum laude and special mention in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Naples and received his Doctorate (Ph.D.) from the University of Perugia.

He has been Director of the Department of Experimental Oncology at the National Cancer Institute, and CNR Research Director and Head of Naples Unit of Institute Research Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems – CNR until January 2022.

Prof. Peluso authored many papers published on major international peer-reviewed scientific journals on his work in the fields of Human healthcare, and NanoMedicine.

Human healthcare: His interest focused on elucidating the role of specific nutrients, such as carnitines, on mitochondrial function and studying whether perturbation of the carnitine system can lead to diseases and cancer.

His original work on the identification and characterisation of the carnitine system in different models, is now centred on the role of these compounds in lipid signalling as well as on the use of carnitine derivatives as anticancer drugs based on their effects on the invasive potential of tumour cell lines.

In the last years he has isolated and characterized other important natural bioactive molecules, such as polyphenols, identifying  the biological responses that these compounds elicit in the target cell.

NanoMedicine: Another key activity, in which he is interested in, is in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology applied to biomedicine, life science, for the development of nanostructured polymers as novel delivery platform to minimize drug degradation upon administration, prevent undesirable side effects, and sustain and/or increase drug’s bioavailability in a targeted area.