Sambri Vittorio

Vittorio Sambri was born in Modena on May 22nd, 1960. Married with Gaia Magnani, they have 2 sons (Andrea and Giacomo) and one daughter (Maria Giulia). Dr Sambri graduated summa cum laude in Medicine at the Alma Mater Studiorum, the University of Bologna, in 1986. From September 1st, 1988 to May 31st, 1989 he attended the Laboratory of the ID Division, the University of California at Los Angeles under the supervision of Michael A. Lovett working on genetic transformation of spirochetes. He received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from the University of Genoa in 1991, discussing a thesis on the microbiology of spirochetal infection. From 1991 to 2004 he worked as research associate in the Laboratory of the Section of Microbiology, DMCSS, the University of Bologna. Presently he holds a position as Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology and Head of the Laboratory of the Regional reference Centre for Emerging Infections, the University of Bologna. The research work refers to spirochetes and chlamydiae. The interaction between Kupffer cells and spirochetes has been studied in animal and in isolated primary cells. The ability of several cathelicidins to kill, in vitro, borreliae, leptospirae and T.pallidum has been investigated and a newly identified antigen (TprI) belonging to the Tprs familiy has been cloned and expressed. It has been demonstrated that the vmp family of proteins in B.anserina, is the principal pathogenicity determinant in an experimental infection. Studies on chlamydiae have shown that the pgp3,a plasmid encoded protein of C.trachomatis, is capable to induce protection, following DNA vaccination, in a mouse genital infection model. A new model of C.pneumoniae infection has been developed in the hamster and it has been used to asses the protective immunity following vaccination with recombinant proteins. He recently worked on the application of molecular methods to the diagnosis of sepsis: in particular his work focused on the possibility to achieve a rapid and accurate diagnosis of blood stream infection in neonates and neutropenic patients. From September 2003, Dr Sambri holded also the position of Head of the Regional Reference Centre for Emerging Infectious Disease (CRREM) and in this field he has been recently involved in the research and diagnostic work related to the outbreak of Chikungunya fever and West Nile virus that hit the Emilia Romagna Region during the recent years. Since December 2012 Dr Sambri holds the position of Head and Director of the Unit of MIcrobiology - The Great Romagna Hub laboratory. Dr Sambri has organized the “1st Conference of the European Society for Chlamydia Research, Bologna, 1988; and the “6th International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis”, Bologna, 1994. He attended six times the Gordon Research Conference on Biology of Spirochetes. He is a member of the Board for the International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis since 1996, of the MC of the EU COST Action 855, of the Italian Society for Microbiology and of the Italian Association of Clinical Microbiologists. Since last December, Dr Sambri has been elected vice-President of APSI (Association for the Study of the Infections). His work resulted in more than 225 scientific publications in international Journals. Dr Sambri was selected as a reviewer for many Journals, including Clinical Infectious Diseases, The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Clinical and vaccine Immunology, Journal of Medical Microbiology, Clinical Infectious Disease, Microroganism, Viruses, The Journal of Infectious Diseases and the Journal of Infection. Dr Sambri's h-index (google scholar) is 51 with 7907 citations (3804 from l 2016). The global i10 index is currently 152 (99 from 2016). Vittorio Sambri is member of the EU funded research project PREDEMICS and of the SAB of the EU funded research project VECTORIE. He is the PI of the research project "New and emerging vector borne infectious diseases in Italy: epidemiology, surveillance, diagnosis and impact on the safety of blood and organ donations" funded by the Italian Ministry of Health and of many other research Projects.