Great news! Iain Mattaj, member of our Faculty, has been designated as first Director of Human Technopole, one of the most significant Italian endeavour in the Research field. Human Technopole is the new Italian Research Centre that will characterise the second life of the Expo area and develop technologies able to improve the quality of life and the level of healthcare.
Yesterday, the Coordinating Committee of Human Technopole, chaired by Stefano Paleari, evaluated the indications received from an international board of experts about the most suitable profiles for the scientific mission of Technopole.
The announcement in the late afternoon of yesterday: “The Coordination Committee for the project Human Technopole gathered today [February 16th] and evaluated the indications of the international Search Committee which, at the beginning of February interviewed the shortlist composed by five candidates to the board of the institute, focused on life sciences. The preferred candidate for the direction of Human Technopole is professor Iain Mattaj, general director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) of Heidelberg”.
Marialuisa Lavitrano, Director of the Executive Masters in Management of Research Infrastructures and professor of Pathology, has commented this news: “I am so glad to hear the choice made by the board of experts that designed Professor Mattaj as first Director of Human Technopole. This decision confirms the city of Milan as one of the most important European scientific research hubs. Professor Mattaj’s contribution to our Master course gives prestige not only to our Master programme, but also to the entire educational offer provided by the University of Milano-Bicocca ”
Enrico Guarini, Professor of Business Administration and Management and Programme Coordinator of the Executive Masters in Management of Research Infrastructures, also said: “Iain Mattaj is a prominent international scientist in molecular biology that we strongly wanted within our executive programme. He will give a significant contribution to the participants thanks to his strong managerial experience in managing large scale research infrastructures”.
Who is Iain Mattaj?
Professor Iain Mattaj was born in St Andrews, Scotland. He attended the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and after completing his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry (honours), he obtained his PhD from the University of Leeds, England. In 1985, he joined EMBL as a Group Leader at the Heidelberg laboratory. He became Coordinator of the Gene Expression Unit at EMBL in 1990 before being promoted to the position of Scientific Director in 1999. Iain was appointed Director General of EMBL in May 2005.
He is visiting professor of this Executive Masters in Management of Research Infrastructures, and he is Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Bio-Sciences of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Here a full bio: https://www.embl.de/aboutus/general_information/leadership/dg/
Here the official news: https://www.htechnopole.it/index.php/2018/02/identified-director-human-technopole/