Congratulations to ISSNAF Young Investigator 2026 Awardees!

On November 12th, ISSNAF hosted its Annual Event at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C., with the honor of welcoming H.E. Ambassador Peronaci and representatives from key Italian institutions. The event celebrated the finalists of the five 2026 Young Investigator Awards and announced the recipients of these prestigious honors.

ISSNAF extends its heartfelt congratulations to all the 2025 Young Investigator Award winners for their outstanding achievements!

Embassy of Italy Award

Prof. Sara Molinari, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland College Park

"Programming Living Materials through Synthetic Biology"

Prof.  Molinari has been selected for creating engineered living materials which are produced by bacteria genetically programmed to produce a synthetic extracellular matrix.  Her pioneering work addresses important questions and challenges in biotechnology.  in particular, the design of entirely new materials that can grow, self assemble and repair opens new avenues in various fields such as medicine, manufacturing and biosensing.

INFN Bruno Touschek Award Prof. Igor Lorenzo Andreoni, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Probing Fundamental Physics with Extreme Cosmic Transients."

To Igor Andreoni, for his pioneering contributions to multi-messenger astronomy and to the study of the most extreme transient phenomena in the Universe. From his leading role in the historic discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source (GW170817) to the observation of relativistic jets launched by black holes, Dr. Andreoni has opened new frontiers in fundamental physics, establishing himself as a key figure in the international scientific community.

Mario Gerla Award  Prof. Riccardo Paccagnella, Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

"Software Security in the Era of Leaky Hardware."

Prof. Paccagnella is awarded for exceptional contributions to systems security and its impact in deployed systems and open-source project. For showing how subtle behaviors in modern processors can undermine even carefully designed software protections, challenging fundamental assumptions in constant-time cryptography.

Paola Campese Award  Dr. Luca Paruzzo, Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania

"Personalizing Cellular Therapy Platforms for Hematologic Malignancies."

Dr. Paruzzo is awarded the 2026 YI Paola Campese award for his work on improving safety and efficiency of cellular therapies using Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells (also known as CART) for patients with hematological malignancies

Dr. Paruzzo’s research activities at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine focus on several aspects of cellular therapy with CART. His translational research work includes studying the unique features of patients that have achieved significant benefit from treatment with CART, decipher the key factors that allow CART cells to persist in the circulation for long periods of time and analyze the mechanisms involved in the development of immune-mediated toxicities following CART therapy. Dr. Paruzzo’s commitment and academic excellence are reflected in the publication of his work in top-tier journals such as Nature Communications, Nature Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine.

RnB4Culture Award 

Dr. Stefania Porcelli, Doctoral Lecturer, City University of New York

"Rethinking emotion, history, and female agency through literary intensity"

Dr. Porcelli's research project stands out as innovative in the field of Italian humanities in North America because it reconsiders fundamental aspects of Italian culture, such as emotion, history, and female agency, through the unique lens of literary intensity. By foregrounding how literature shapes and transmits emotional experiences and gender narratives, it challenges traditional approaches that often overlook the intersection of affect and female subjectivity. Her project offers fresh perspectives that bridge literary analysis with cultural and gender studies, contributing to more inclusive and dynamic scholarship. These qualities align with the Rbn4 ISSNAF Award's objective of fostering groundbreaking research that redefines the boundaries of Italian cultural studies, making this work especially deserving of recognition.