RenatoOstuni San Raffaele Scientific Institute Italy

Renato Ostuni is Associate Professor of Tissue Biology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, as well as Group Leader and Director of the Cancer Gene Therapy Program at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) in Milan. As a graduate student with Francesca Granucci and Ivan Zanoni at the University of Milano-Bicocca, he contributed to establish CD14 — a co-receptor for the bacterial component lipopolysaccharide (LPS) — as a central organizer of inflammatory responses in innate immune cells (Nature 2009, Cell 2011, JCI 2012). He then did postdoctoral work with Gioacchino Natoli at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO), where he discovered latent enhancers, a class of regulatory elements controlling short-term transcriptional and epigenetic immune memory in activated macrophages (Cell 2013). The Ostuni lab investigates how microenvironmental factors shape the diverse functions of innate immune cells in homeostasis and disease. His group defined key genomic principles of signal integration in macrophages (Nat Immunol 2017, Nat Immunol 2019) and discovered new mechanisms of action of the immune modulatory lipid prostaglandin E2 in macrophage activation (Immunity 2021) and anti-tumor immunity in pancreatic cancer (Nature, 2023, Trends Immunol 2025). Renato Ostuni pioneered the application of advanced bulk and single-cell genomics to elucidate myeloid cell behaviors in vivo, having proposed (Nat Rev Immunol 2019) and contributed to demonstrate that mouse and human neutrophils can undergo context-dependent transcriptional adaptations in vivo (Cell 2020, Nat Immunol 2022, Science 2024). Renato Ostuni has published articles in top scientific journals and is the recipient of three consecutive grants (Starting, Consolidator and Proof-of-Concept) from the European Research Council (ERC). He received several awards, including the 2025 Biennial “Beppe Della Porta” Prize from AIRC. Renato Ostuni actively participates in public engagement and research dissemination projects with multiple appearances on national television and radio programs, and he serves as a member of the Scientific Committee of BergamoScienza, one of the largest science festival in Italy. Outside of the lab, Renato is a passionate ultra-trail runner and proud finisher of the 2025 edition of Tor des Géants, one of the world’s hardest races (350 km-long with 25,000 mt elevation) in the Italian Alps. As an athlete and scientist, Renato Ostuni advocates for the importance of physical activity as a measure for disease prevention and personal well-being at popular Outdoor Festivals as well as in academic settings as Rector’s Delegate for Sport.