Obituary.

Abstract

Alessandro Moretta 1953–2018 [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] Alessandro Moretta passed away on 17 February 2018 after a long struggle against cancer. Graduated as a medical doctor in 1978, Alessandro worked for several years at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland, then as full professor of histology at the University of Genua Medical School. His scientific career was mostly devoted to the identification and functional characterization of lymphocyte receptors. Significant research on human TCR alfa/beta and TCR gamma/delta was made in early years, but his most impressive studies were on Natural Killer (NK) cells, in which Alessandro and his group made fundamental advances on the biology and functions of the complex array of NK receptors. From 1988 to recent years the jigsaw puzzle of activatory and inhibitory NK molecules has been patiently fitted, with an impressive sequence of milestone papers on the newly discovered relationship between NK cells and the HLA system, the NK anti-tumor and anti-leukemia response and the transplant tolerance in haploidentical combinations. The cytometric community must feel indebted to Alessandro for having unveiled the mysterious map of NK world, making it possible to reliably distinguish reactive from clonal NK proliferations. But such discoveries in cell biology have also paved the way for innovative therapeutic approaches in allogeneic transplantation and anti-cancer treatments, with far-reaching impact in medical sciences. Alessandro has published >500 scientific papers in high rank journals, which made him to be included into the ‘ISI highly cited’ researcher group for immunology and rated as the most cited Italian immunologist over a 10-year period, with >55,000 citations. He has also received several prestigious awards like the “Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research” and the “Yvette Mayent-Institut Curie 2000”. Like all the real great minds, Alessandro was always amicable and collaborative, eager to disseminate and discuss his unsurpassable knowledge on NK cells on any occasion. Despite the worsening of his health he kept on accepting invitations to lecture, stubbornly until a few weeks before his death. We will long his lectures we have enjoyed at ESCCA events and at countless scientific meetings around the world, in which a good old friend, more than a tutor, would share his science, dressed up in that unmistakable, wry Genoese wit, full of bittersweetness. Bruno Brando, M.D. Milan, Italy On behalf of ESCCA / ISCCA