Giuseppe Testa

Giuseppe Testa holds an MD from the University of Perugia, a PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, and an MA in Health Care Ethics and Law from the University of Manchester. A three-time European Research Council (ERC) awardee, Prof. Giuseppe Testa is Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Milan, Head of the Center for Neurogenomics of the Human Technopole and Director of the High Definition Disease Modelling Laboratory at the European Institute of...See more

Giuseppe Testa holds an MD from the University of Perugia, a PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, and an MA in Health Care Ethics and Law from the University of Manchester. A three-time European Research Council (ERC) awardee, Prof. Giuseppe Testa is Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Milan, Head of the Center for Neurogenomics of the Human Technopole and Director of the High Definition Disease Modelling Laboratory at the European Institute of Oncology. His lab spearheads stem cell and organoid-based patient-specific models for neurodevelopmental disorders and cancer, focusing on genetic and environmental causes of chromatin dysregulation as a shared and increasingly relevant layer of pathogenic mechanisms. Starting from densely phenotyped clinical cohorts and integrating multi-layered omics, single cell dynamics and high-end computing, the aim is to advance a foundational framework for precision oncology and neuropsychiatry. Key accomplishments include the development of new genome engineering technologies, the characterization of novel enzymes required for neural development, the first reprogramming-based models of human diseases caused by symmetric gene dosage imbalances, the single cell omics-based mechanistic dissection of human corticogenesis in brain organoids, and the identification of the master regulator gene underlying the evolution of the modern human face. A further unique accomplishment is the successful pursuit of a parallel career as practicing life scientist and scholar in Bioethics and Science and Technology Studies (STS). His first book 'Naked genes: Reinventing the Human in the Molecular Age', co-authored with Helga Nowotny, published in German, English and Italian, was widely reviewed in the leading press. He is the recipient of several scientific prizes, including in 2003 the Roche Prize for leading bioscientist of the next decade. See less