Aurora Gazzillo graduated in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Pavia in 2022, and she is currently enrolled in the PhD program of Molecular and Experimental Medicine. She is part of the Cellular and Molecular Oncoimmunology Lab at IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital. Her research is focused on the immune infiltrate in solid tumors, particularly on the role of dendritic cells in primary liver cancer.

Camilla Volponi graduated in Biological Sciences at the University of Bologna in 2019, and obtained her master’s degree in Functional Genomics at the University of Trieste in 2021. She is currently enrolled in the PhD program of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at Humanitas University in Milan. She is part of the Cellular and Molecular Oncoimmunology Lab at IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital. Her project aims to characterize the immune hepatic microenvironment in the context of primary and secondary liver malignancies, focusing on the role of dendritic cells in the antitumor response.

Cristiana Soldani has had a permanent position at Humanitas Research Hospital as an Assistant Researcher Technician from 2008 to the present. After graduation in 1996 at the University of Pavia, she spent a post-graduate fellowship at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam in the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology. She obtained in 2001 a Master’s in Techniques of microscopy analysis in Biology at the University of Pavia and in 2002 she achieved a PhD in Cellular and Animal Biology at the University of Pavia. She has been a Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pavia since 2007. She has 66 publications with 2772 citations and an h-index of 24 (Scopus, 8 December 2023).

Michela Anna Polidoro graduated in Medical Biotechnology at the University of L’Aquila in 2016. She worked at the Pituitary Disease Laboratory (University of L’Aquila) as a post-graduate fellow until July 2017, focusing her activity on translational biomedical research, in the field of Pituitary Adenomas. In September 2017, she joined the Hepatobiliary Immunopathology laboratory at Humanitas Research Hospital. Her research activity has been focused on liver tumors, with a particular interest in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma. In February 2023, she qualified as a professional biologist at the University of Pavia. In June 2023, she earned her PhD title CUM LAUDE in Bioengineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, under the mentorship of Prof. Ana Lleo and Prof. Marco Rasponi. Her Ph.D. project aimed at developing an innovative model of “Cholangiocarcinoma-on-chip”, a microfluidic platform that could mirror an in vivo-like tumor microenvironment and provide a reliable tool for personalized drug screening. Since July 2023, she has been a Postdoctoral fellow in the Precision Medicine and Oncogenomic Laboratory at Humanitas, directed by Prof. Luigi Terracciano and Prof. Salvatore Piscuoglio.

Barbara Franceschini graduated in Biological Sciences from the State University of Milan in 2000. In 2002, she obtained qualification as a professional biologist at the University of Milan. From 2001 to 2005, she was a biologist in the group directed by Alberto Mantovani at Humanitas Research Hospital in Rozzano, Milan. From 2002 to 2013, she was a Scientific consultant at the “Michele Rodriguez” Foundation, Scientific Institute for Quantitative Measurements in Medicine, Milan. From 2006 to 2013, she was a Biologist at the Laboratory of Quantitative Medicine at IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, and since 2013 she has been a permanent Assistant Researcher Technician in the lab led by Ana Lleo. She has 50 publications and an h-index of 18 (Scopus, 8 December 2023).

Ana Lleo obtained her degree in Medicine from the University of Milan, Italy, in 2000, and has been licensed to practice general medicine throughout Europe since July 2001. She completed her clinical training and received the Board Certification in Internal Medicine in 2006. She was a researcher between October 2006 and April 2010 at the University of California-Davis (Davis, CA, USA) in the division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology directed by Prof. M. Eric Gershwin. From 2017 she has assumed the responsibility of the Hepatobiliary Immunopathology Laboratory. Since Jan 2022 she has held a position as Professor of Internal Medicine at Humanitas University. She has co-authored many publications in peer-reviewed journals. Her areas of scientific expertise are biliary disorders, with particular attention to cholangiocyte biology and the liver's innate immune response. She specifically works on cholangiocarcinoma, the cancer arising from epithelial cells lining intrahepatic or extrahepatic biliary ducts. Her work has been funded by the Italian Ministry of Health and AIRC. She is a member of the “European Network for the Study of Cholangiocarcinoma (ENS-CCA)”—A scientific network that aims to define the clinical management and treatment of cholangiocarcinoma in Europe.

Eduardo Bonavita is a junior group leader at Humanitas Research Hospital, where he leads the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Oncoimmunology. He obtained his master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Salerno in 2009. In 2010 he joined the laboratory of Prof. Cecilia Garlanda and Prof. Alberto Mantovani at Humanitas Research Hospital to study the inflammatory processes associated with cancer development and progression. In 2014, he was awarded a fellowship from the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC-AIRC) and in 2015 he obtained a Ph.D. in Immunology and Life Sciences from The Open University (Milton Keynes, UK). He has 28 publications with 2990 citations and an h-index of 20 (Scopus, 8 December 2023).

Matteo Donadon is a General Surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of the Program of Surgical Oncology at the Università del Piemonte Orientale, Ospedale Maggiore, Novara, Italy. He received his medical degree at the University of Milan and completed his residency in general surgery at the same University. During that period he also worked as a research fellow at the Department of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. He earned his PhD in Hepatobiliary Oncology at the University of Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy. He worked for many years in the Department of Hepatobiliary and General Surgery of the Humanitas University, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital. He is the author/coauthor of over 15 book chapters and copious abstracts and presentations at national and international meetings. He has 186 publications with 6387 citations and an h-index of 40 (Scopus, 8 December 2023).