Gianluca Sbardella

Gianluca Sbardella received his M.Sc. (1993) from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy) and his Ph.D. (1997) from the same University. After postdoctoral stints at the Drug Chemistry Center of Italian National Research Center, Italian National Institute of Health, University of Rome "La Sapienza", University of Siena, in 2001 he joined the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Salerno, where since 2016 he is Full Professor in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology. In 2004 he spent a sabbatical period as visiting professor at the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry of UCLA in the group of Michael E. Jung. In 1994 and 1998 Gianluca was awarded with the Italian Pasteur Institute “Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti” Award. In 1995 he was awarded with the Italian Federation of Chemical Industry (Federchimica) Award. In 2008 was awarded with the Farmindustria Italian National Award for Research Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry. In 2019 he received the Golden Seal of the Italian Chemical Society (Società Chimica Italiana - SCI). Starting from 2023, he is member of the Scientific Board of the SCI.

His research regards most aspects of epigenetic drug discovery, spanning synthetic strategies, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, biophysical techniques. He is Author of over 120 papers on high-impact international MedChem journals, 4 book chapters, 1 book, 5 patents (PCT) and over 150 communications in international congresses, comprising 40 invited lectures.

He has been Vice Rector for International Relations (2018-2022), Coordinator of the PhD program in Drug Discovery and Development (2011-2022), and member of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Commission (2012-2020) of the University of Salerno.

In 2017-2022 he was the National Representative for Italy in the Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI2). He is Chair of the Editorial Board of ChemMedChem and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

In 2019-2021 he served as the President of the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society (Divisione di Chimica Farmaceutica della Società Chimica Italiana). He is currently the Past President (2022–2024). He is also member of the Permanent Scientific Board of the Italian Chemical Society.

From 2013 to 2015 he was member of the Scientific Board of the EFMC-accredited European School of Medicinal Chemistry (ESMEC). In 2019 he became a member of the Council of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology (EFMC), and in 2021 he joined the Executive Committee of EFMC, first as a member and, starting from 2023, as the Secretary. He is also member of two EFMC working groups, Best Practices in Medicinal Chemistry WG and Chemical Biology WG.