INF-ACT Early Career Awards 2024

"The Foundation’s activities are focused on the future, and our future is also built by supporting young researchers as they embark on their scientific careers.” With these words, Federico Forneris, President of the INF-ACT Foundation, announced the winners of the 2024 INF-ACT Early Career Awards. The award ceremony will take place in Pavia on September 12 as part of the Foundation’s second Annual Meeting.

“The Foundation’s mission is to build a support network that will help protect us in the event of a new infectious disease outbreak. From the very beginning, we understood that achieving this goal requires investing not only in the present but also in the future, ensuring continuity in our efforts and investments,” said Federico Forneris, President of the INF-ACT Foundation. “The present is shaped by the many stakeholders who can contribute—from universities and individual scientists to hospitals, private companies, and the veterinary sector. All are contributing their expertise and technologies to address these challenges through increasingly close and multidisciplinary collaborations. The future, however, belongs to the next generation—to those who are only now entering this field. These fellowships represent a small but meaningful contribution to ensuring that this protective network remains strong and dynamic, fueled by the energy and ideas of young scientists.”

The competition was open to early-career scientists who had obtained their first PhD or medical specialization no more than seven years ago and had authored at least two original research publications. Applicants were required to submit a research proposal focused on emerging infectious diseases from a One Health perspective.

Thanks to a total investment of €225,000 from the INF-ACT Foundation, fifteen fellowships worth €15,000 each were awarded to researchers currently working at ten universities and research centers across Northern, Central, and Southern Italy.

The Awardees

• Michela Deiana    (IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria) - Progetto ESMOPH | Exploring Novel SNVs and viral population dynamics in mpox outbreak: implications for pathogenesis and public health
• Georgia Diakoudi (Università degli Studi di Bari) - Progetto B19-CAT | Human B19-like parvovirus in domestic cats (B19-CAT)
• Marta De Angelis (Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza) - Progetto EMERGENT | Exploring redox-related pathogenic mechanisms underlying respiratory virus infections
• Jairo Mendoza    (Università degli Studi di Bari) - Progetto LSI | Leishmania vs Sauroleishmania in the mediterranean basin: isolation, molecular characterization and metagenomics of Leishmania spp in Italy
• Ayda Khorramnejad (Università degli Studi di Pavia) - Progetto  ClimaVec | Impact of global climate change on vectors and emerging arboviruses
• Ilaria Varotto Boccazzi    (Università degli Studi di Milano) - Progetto LION | Exploring the interactions between the mammalian host and Leishmania parasites at the mucosal level: insights from organoid models
• Stefan Milenkovic    (Università degli Studi di Cagliari) - Progetto PRE-STA-MD-AI | Predicting Statistics of Molecular Descriptors by Employing AI 
• Vittoria Mattioni Marchetti    (Università degli Studi di Pavia) - Progetto FOS | Molecular characterization of fosfomycin resistance emerging Enterobacterales strains 
• Costanza Vicentini    (Università degli Studi di Torino) - Progetto    PROMISING | PROMotIng StewardshIp iN General practice 
• Giacomo Pietro Vigezzi    (Università degli Studi di Pavia) - Progetto    IDeSSOH |  Integrated Dengue Surveillance System: One Health approach in Lombardy 
• Letizia Santinelli    (Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza) - Progetto MIVRIIS | Microbiota In Viral Respiratory Infections: identification of key species and relationship with Innate Immune Signature
• Serena Di Vincenzo (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) - Progetto PAMIR | Preclinical in vitro Airway Models for studying Infectious Risk in chronic respiratory diseases
• Francesca Della Sala  (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) - Progetto BREATH | Development of antimicroBial platfoRms basEd on natural biomAterials for acuTe and cHronic lung diseases
• Riccardo Rigo (Università degli Studi di Padova) - Progetto TARGET-UTR | Targeting the 3╩-UTR of West Nile Virus: a Novel Peptide-Based Antiviral Strategy
  Matteo Passerini (Università degli Studi di Milano) - Progetto PHAGOMED | PHAGe therapy cOmbined with CutiMED Sorbact for the treatment of infected skin ulcers: an epidemiological and in vitro study 

“These funds will enable further advances in both research and the development of practical tools to combat emerging infectious diseases. What makes us especially proud, however, is the remarkable quality of the proposals we received—innovative, well-designed projects that reflect the vitality and talent of a new generation of young researchers,” concluded Federico Forneris, President of the INF-ACT Foundation.

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