Mauro Ferrari (born 7 July 1959) is a nanoscientist[1][2] and leader in the field of nanomedicine. He served as special expert on nanotechnology for the National Cancer Institute (2003-2005) and was instrumental in establishing the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer in 2004.[3][4][5][6][7]
On 1 January 2020, Ferrari was made president of the European Research Council (ERC).[8] Following a vote of no confidence, on 27 March 2020, "all 19 active members of the ERC’s Scientific Council individually and unanimously requested that Mauro Ferrari resign from his position as ERC’s President", due to poor conduct in office, exploiting the position to further his own projects, and for consistently failing to represent the interests of the ERC.[9] On 7 April 2020, Ferrari officially resigned, stating to the media that he was "extremely disappointed by the European response” to the pandemic and expressing frustration over opposition to his efforts to launch a scientific program to combat the virus.[10]
Early life and education
Ferrari was born in Padova, Italy in 1959. He spent his early years in Udine and Florence before attending the University of Padova and earning his Laurea in Mathematics in 1985. He moved to Berkeley, California where he earned his master's and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California Berkeley.[11][12][13]
Career
Professor of Engineering
Ferrari became an associate professor of engineering at Berkeley, then moved to the Ohio State University as professor of bioengineering, internal medicine, and mechanical engineering.[14]
He studied medicine at the Ohio State University concurrent with his faculty appointment from 2002-2004.[15]
Ferrari resigned in 7 April 2020, citing his disappointment at the lack of coordinated EU action to address the COVID-19 pandemic.[16][17] Ferrari was not alone in his criticism of the EU response to COVID-19.[18] The ERC countered that calling for specific research was contrary to their mandate. According to Science Magazine, "ERC, set up to reward bottom-up basic research ideas, does not designate money for specific research areas....Other EU organ[ization]s can and do pay for research in particular fields, including COVID-19, but ERC is designed to protect science from politics. Ferrari writes that 'the expected burden of death, suffering, societal transformation, and economic devastation' of the pandemic justifies breaking this rule."[19][17]
The ERC responded on 8 April 2020: "...we regret Professor Ferrari's statement, which at best is economical with the truth."[20] The ERC stated that Ferrari's "resignation in fact followed a written unanimous vote of no confidence”.[21][22] They cited "a complete lack of appreciation for the raison-d’être of the ERC", "a lack of engagement with the ERC", with Ferrari "failing to participate in many important meetings, spending extensive time in the USA and failing to defend the ERC’s programme and mission," making "several personal initiatives within the Commission" without consulting the ERC, and being "involved in multiple external enterprises, some academic and some commercial, which took a lot of his time and effort and appeared on several occasions to take precedence over his commitment to ERC."[22] Ferrari disputed the ERC claims of his failing to meet his obligations and their accusations of inappropriate outside involvements.[23][24][25][26] In the months following Ferrari's resignation, the EU itself debated whether some funding of the ERC should include some focused research on COVID-19; which is what Ferrari advocated and the ERC adamantly opposed.[27]
Other activities
Corporate boards
AMBER, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board[28]
Ferrari has produced more than 350 publications, including seven books and 41 issued patents in the US and Europe. In June 2020, Ferrari and his lab colleagues had a publication retracted from Science Advances Journal due to various image duplications suggesting possible scientific misconduct.[35]
Books
Ferrari M, Granik VT, Imam A, Nadeau J, editors. Advances in Doublet Mechanics. Lecture Notes in Physics, New Series M: Monographs, vol. m 45. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer Verlag; 1997. ISBN978-3-540-49636-6
Ferrari M. Micro- and Nanofabricated Electro-Optical Mechanical Systems for Biomedical and Environmental Applications. SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering; 1999 Jan. ISBN9780819423894
Lee A, Lee J, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol I: Biological and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Springer. 2006. ISBN978-0-387-25842-3
Ozkan M, Heller M, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol II: Micro/Nanotechnologies for Genomics and Proteomics. Springer. 2006. ISBN978-0387255644
Desai T, Bhatia SN, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol III: Therapeutic Micro/Nanotechnologies. Springer. 2006. ISBN978-1850758600
Bashir R, Werely S, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol IV: Biomolecular Sensing, Processing, and Analysis. Springer. 2006. ISBN978-0387255668
Cristini V, Ferrari M, Decuzzi P, editors. Nanoparticulate Delivery to Cancerous Lesions: Advances in Mathematical Modeling. Ferrari M, series editor. Fundamental Biomedical Technologies. Vol. 2. Springer. April 2010. ISBN978-0387290850
Cheng M, et al. (2006). "Nanotechnologies for Biomolecular Detection and Medical Diagnostics". Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. 10 (1): 11–19. doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2006.01.006. PMID16418011.
Decuzzi P, Lee S, Bhushan B, Ferrari M (2005). "A Theoretical Model for the Margination of Particles within Blood Vessels". Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 33 (2): 179–190. doi:10.1007/s10439-005-8976-5. PMID15771271. S2CID1705344.
WO application 201517777, Fine D, Grattoni A, Ferrari M, Liu X, Goodall R, Hosali S, "Therapeutic microdevices and methods of making and using same", published 2015
US patent 8926994, Ferrari M, Serda R, Meraz IM, Gu J, Xia X, Shen H, Sun T, "Mesoporous silicon particles for the presentation of tumor antigens and adjuvant for anti-cancer immunity", published 2015
US patent 8685755, Ferrari M, Tasciotti E, Liu X, Bouamrani A, Hu Y, "Combinational multidomain mesoporous chips and a method for fractionation, stabilization, and storage of biomolecules", published 2014
US patent 8753897, Ferrari M, Cheng MM-C, Cuda G, Gaspari M, Geho D, Liotta L, Petricoin E, Robertson F, Terracciano R, "Nanoporous substrates for the [sic] analytical methods", published 2014
US patent 8920625, Ferrari M, Liu X, Cheng MC, "Electrochemical method of making porous particles using a constant current density", published 2014
US patent 8361508, Decuzzi P, Ferrari M, "Endocytotic Particles", published 2013
US patent 8480637, Ferrari M, Liu X, Grattoni, Fine D, Goodall R, Hosali S, Medema R, Hudson L, "Nanochanneled device and related methods", published 2013
US patent 8563022, Decuzzi P, Ferrari M, "Particles for cell targeting", published 2013
US patent 8568877, Ferrari M, Liu X, Chiappini C, Fakhoury JR, "Porous and non-porous nanostructures", published 2013
US patent 8173115, Ferrari M, Decuzzi P, "Particle compositions with a pre-selected cell internalization mode", published 2012
US patent 7993271, Liu J, Ferrari M, Rokhlin SI, Sedmark DD, "System and method for screening tissue", published 2011
US patent 6355270, Ferrari M, Dehlinger PJ, Martin FJ, Grove CF, Friend DR, "Particles for oral delivery of peptides and proteins", published 2002
US patent 6405066, Essenpreis M, Desai TA, Ferrari M, Hansford DJ, "Implantable analyte sensor", published 2002
US patent 6015559, Keller CG, Ferrari M, "High vertical aspect ratio thin film structures", published 2000
US patent 6044981, Chu WH, Ferrari M, "Microfabricated filter with specially constructed channel walls and containment well, and capsule constructed with such filters [II]", published 2000
US patent 6107102, Ferrari M, "Therapeutic microdevices and methods of making and using same", published 2000
US patent 5985164, Chu WH, Ferrari M, "Method for forming a filter", published 1999
US patent 5893974, Keller CG, Ferrari M, "Microfabricated capsules for immunological isolation of cell transplants", published 1999
US patent 5938923, Tu J, Ferrari M, "Microfabricated filter and capsule using a substrate sandwich", published 1999
US patent 5948255, Keller CG, Ferrari M, "Microfabricated particle thin film filter and method of making it", published 1999
US patent 5985328, Chu WH, Ferrari M, "Micromachined porous membranes with bulk support [II]", published 1999
US patent 5770076, Chu WH, Ferrari M, "Micromachined capsules having porous membranes and bulk supports [I]", published 1998
US patent 5798042, Chu WH, Ferrari M, "Microfabricated filter with specially constructed channel walls and containment well, and capsule constructed with such filters [I]", published 1998
2015 Aurel Stodola Medal, Mechanical Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland[39]
Personal life
Ferrari met and married his first wife Marialuisa while they were both students at the University of Padova, and they moved to Berkeley, California. While he was faculty at the University of California Berkeley, Marialuisa died from cancer.[40][12][13]
Ferrari married Paola Del Zotto from Udine, Italy in 1995. He has five children, including two sets of twins.[40][12]
^Burgess, Rob. 2012. "Understanding Nanomedicine: An Introductory Textbook". Singapore: Pan Stanford. ISBN9789814316385
^Jones, Dan (2007). "Cancer nanotechnology: small, but heading for the big time". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 6 (3): 174–175. doi:10.1038/nrd2285. PMID17396287. S2CID7836010.
