Dr. Mariagrazia Pizza

Biography

Mariagrazia Pizza is a Professor of Microbiology and Co-director of the Centre of Bacterial Resistance Biology at Imperial College London, based in the South Kensington Campus. With over 30 years of experience in vaccine research and development, she has led numerous bacterial vaccine projects and collaborated with leading vaccinologists worldwide. Her work has been instrumental in defining the structural and immunological properties of candidate vaccine antigens, and she led the discovery and development of the Meningococcal B vaccine, introduced in the UK in 2015 to vaccinate newborns. This MenB vaccine remains the standard for infants and has been licensed in more than 50 countries with an efficacy range of 71%-95%. Professor Pizza has received numerous accolades, including the IVI-SK Bioscience Park MahnHoon Award in 2023, and she is an elected member of EMBO, the European Academy of Microbiology, and Academia Europaea. As a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, she also serves as Vice Chair of the Bacteriology Division of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS) and is a member of the Product Development Vaccines Advisory Committee (PDVAC). She boasts over 250 publications and 70 patents, establishing herself as one of the world's most accomplished scientists in vaccine development. Her current research program focuses on characterizing a new class of potential virulence factors and antigens in Klebsiella pneumoniae, a Gram-negative bacterium that has emerged as a dangerous multidrug-resistant pathogen, with the goal of informing future vaccine strategies.

Research Interests