Innate Immunity

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor of Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Verona

EDUCATION:
MD, University of Trieste, 1976

MEMBERSHIPS:
• ABCD (Association of Cell Biology and Differentiation)
• SIP (Italian Society of Pathology)
• SIIC (Societa' Italian of Immunology, Allergy Clinical Immunology)
• Society for Leukocyte Biology
• Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation for Cystic Fibrosis (FFC)
• Member of the Editorial Board of Inflammation & Allergy-Drug Targets

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Since graduating, Dr Berton has conducted research mainly in the field of cellular and molecular basis of innate defenses. The main topics covered by his research are:

• regulatory mechanisms and biochemical basis of NADPH oxidase, the main microbicidal system of phagocytic cells
• mechanisms of regulation of functions of granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages by cytokines
• signal transduction and regulation of selective functions of granulocytes by adhesive molecules

In recent years he has focused his interests on the mechanisms of signal transduction by integrins in myelomonocytic cells, and in particular on the role of the Src tyrosine kinase family.