Rino Rappuoli (born 4 August 1952) is an Italian immunologist. He is currently the scientific director of the Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena. Previously, he served as chief scientist and head of external R&D at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Vaccines, visiting scientist at Rockefeller University and Harvard Medical School, and held senior roles at Sclavo, Chiron Corporation, and Novartis Vaccines.
Education
Rappuoli earned his doctoral and bachelor's degrees in biological sciences at the University of Siena.
Rappuoli joined Chiron as head of European vaccines research in 1992 with the acquisition of Italian vaccines company Sclavo SpA, where he served as head of research and development. He was subsequently the global head of vaccines research for Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics (Siena, Italy). He is also a professor of vaccinology at the University of Siena. used in Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, and pneumococcus vaccines; an acellular pertussis vaccine containing a genetically detoxified pertussis toxin; the first conjugate vaccines against meningococcus; MF59 adjuvant for influenza; the meningococcus B genome-derived vaccine.
During his career, he has introduced several novel scientific concepts: genetic detoxification in 1987; cellular microbiology in 1996; reverse vaccinology in 2000; pan-genome in 2005.
He has mentored a generation of vaccinologists, including Dirga Sakti Rambe and Melvin Sanicas.
Honors and awards
Rappuoli is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 1991. He is a member of numerous international associations, including the European Molecular Biology Organization and the American Society for Microbiology. He also serves as a member of the research directors group of the European Commission and in 2005 In 2019 he was awarded the Robert Koch Prize.