Antonio Mazzocca | Editor
Affilation: University of Bari, Italy
Antonio Mazzocca, MD, PhD, was born in Barletta, Italy in 1965. After graduating from the Medical School of the University of Bari in 1994, he served as a Navy physician (Medical Officer) in the Italian Navy Medical Corps. Following a PhD in Clinical Pathophysiology at the University of Florence Italy, which he finished in 2001, he moved to the USA, where he continued his postdoctoral research at the laboratory of Alex Toker at Harvard Medical School in Boston for the next three years (2001-2004). Working with Professor Toker, he identified a soluble protein named ADAM9-S secreted by hepatic stromal cells, discovered as important for tumor invasion. His research interest has focused on cell and molecular basis of pathogenic mechanisms underlying liver cancer progression, with particular focus on molecules regulating tumor-stromal interactions. He continued his research on factors involved in cancer progression after moving to Vanderbilt University in 2007. Back to Italy, he was appointed as Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine at University of Bari School of Medicine and promoted to Associate Professor in Gastroenterology in 2012 (National Scientific Qualification). Here, he continued his work on hepatic cancer and identified lysophosphatidic acid receptor LPAR6, a protein that supports the growth and tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma. His research on factors promoting liver cancer growth has proven crucial to understanding the development of cancer and designing anti-cancer drugs. He has published several papers and books. He also received awards for his research activity. He is in the Editorial Board of several journals including the Journal of Gastrointestinal Cancer and BMC Cancer. (For further reading please also visit http://www.antoniomazzocca.com/).
