Fulvio Mavili is appointed as Généthon's new Scientific Director

01-19-2012: Fulvio Mavilio, PhD (aged 58), an international acknowledged expert and pioneer in gene therapy for rare diseases for more than twenty years, was appointed as the new Scientific Director of Généthon (the not-for-profit biotherapy lab funded by the French Muscular Dystrophy Association (AFM) with donations from France's annual Telethon) on January 1st, 2012. He succeeds Philippe Moullier (Director of the INSERM 649 Viral Vectors and in vivo Gene Transfer Unit in Nantes, France), who had held the position since January 2009. Philippe Moullier remains a special advisor to the management and will continue his commitment to several of Généthon's scientific projects.

As a molecular biologist-geneticist by training, Fulvio Mavilio started to focus on hematology and thus blood diseases in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, his work gave rise to the worldwide first-in-man trial of stem cell gene therapy for the treatment of a rare immunodeficiency (ADA-SCID). His belief in the long-term value of gene therapy prompted him to co-found the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (HSR-TIGET). He also cofounded the gene therapy company GenEra S.p.A., who later merged into Molmed S.p.A. (a biotech company specializing in innovative cancer therapies) where he served as Director of R&D. He was also involved in setting up the University of Modena's Center for Regenerative Medicine.