Fabrizio Piazza

Fabrizio Piazza

CURRICULUM

Prof.  Fabrizio Piazza, PhD, graduated in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in 2005, University of Milano. He obtained his PhD in Molecular and Translational Medicine at the International PhD School (DIMET) of the University of Milano – Bicocca in 2008. From 2009 to 2010, he got the Postdoc Associate position at Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA. Currently, he is Assistant Professor (RTDB) and the Head of the CAA and AD Translational Research & Biomarkers Laboratory at the School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca.

From 2012, Dr. Piazza is the Founding Member and Coordinator of the inflammatory Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Alzheimer’s disease βiomarkers International Network (iCAβ), a World-Wide Consortium involving 35 leading Centers of Excellence on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA) research and care, from 12 different Countries. 

From 2015 is a permanent board member of the EADC (European AD Centers of Excellence), representing UNIMIB.

He serves as an Advisory Board Consultant for Roche and Genentech, and he is an Academic Scientific Consultant for Roche Pharma Research & Early Development, disease modelling. He is also serving in the Scientific Board of the AD education platform to educate expert neurologists, neuroradiologists, and geriatricians involved in the field of AD immunotherapy.

PIAZZA’s LAB. RESEARCH INTEREST

Dr Piazza is leading translational and interdisciplinary research aimed at improving patient care by accelerating the development and delivery of personalized healthcare, including personalized therapies and diagnostics applied to neurodegenerative, neuroimmunological and cerebrovascular disorders.

The main focus of Piazza’s Lab. is the study of the immune-mediated mechanisms of the amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) in the pathogenesis of rare diseases, i.e. Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy-related inflammation (CAA-ri), and immunotherapy trials with monoclonal antibodies for AD.

He has more than 10 years experience in the discovery and validation of diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers and tools. He is inventor of a family of patents for a method and KIT for the ultrasensitive quantification of anti-amyloid autoantibodies in the human CSF.

The validation of biomarkers of ARIA, as well as the definition of clinico-therapeutic recommendations to guide CAA and AD immunotherapy trials, is the main goal of the biomarkARIA Research Project (P.I. Dr. Piazza) and iCAB International Network, the largest worldwide effort aimed at deciphering the pathogenetic mechanisms of CAA-ri and ARIA in a translational and cooperatively-open design between Academia and Pharma companies.

Dr Piazza’s Lab has recently acquired the SIMOA Technology, for the ultrasensitive quantification of biomarkers in blood and CSF samples.

Dr. Piazza’s record of accomplishments include several publications in high impact journals, leading collaborations with top Institutes and Hospitals at international and national level, including Harvard University, MGH Hospital, University of Southampton, Besta Institute, Mario Negri Institute, CNR, and funded research grants from national and international Funding Agencies, including Cariplo Foundation, Alzheimer’s Association USA. 

For more details:

MOST RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS

  • Antolini L., DiFrancesco JC, Zedde ML, Basso G, …… Piazza F. Spontaneous ARIA-like Events in Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy-Related Inflammation: A Multicenter Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study. NEUROLOGY. 2021 Sep 16;10.1212/WNL.0000000000012778.  doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000012778.
  • Carare, R.O., Aldea, R., Agarwal, N., … ( Piazza, F.)….Zlokovic, B.V., Verma, A. (2020) Clearance of interstitial fluid (ISF) and CSF (CLIC) group—part of Vascular Professional Interest Area (PIA): Cerebrovascular disease and the failure of elimination of Amyloid-β from the brain and retina with age and Alzheimer’s disease-Opportunities for Therapy. Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, 2020, 12(1), e12053
  • Auriel, E., Charidimou, A., Gurol, M., Ni, J., Van Etten, E., Martinez-Ramirez, S., et al. (2016). Validation of Clinicoradiological Criteria for the Diagnosis of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy-Related Inflammation. JAMA NEUROLOGY, 73(2), 197-202.  
  • Piazza, F., & Bengt, W. (2016). Amyloid-Related Imaging Abnormalities (ARIA) in Immunotherapy Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease: Need for Prognostic Biomarkers? JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, 52(2), 417-420. 
  • Difrancesco, J.C., Longoni, M., & Piazza, F. (2015). Anti-Aβ autoantibodies in amyloid related imaging abnormalities (ARIA): candidate biomarker for immunotherapy in Alzheimer’s disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY  
  • Piazza, F., Greenberg, S.M., Savoiardo, M., Gardinetti, M., Chiapparini, L., Raicher, I., et al. (2013). Anti-Aβ autoantibodies in cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation: Implications for amyloid-modifying therapies. ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, 73(4), 449-458.  

 

The complete list of publications can be found:

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=35180189700

http://scholar.google.it/citations?user=Kzv0tukAAAAJ