L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 L'Italo-Americano U n t i l t h e beginning of 2 0 2 0 , G i a - como Gori- ni's specialty at the Jenner Institute in Oxford was to isolate m o n o c l o n a l a n t i b o d i e s , dealing specifically with malaria. When the pande- mic disrupted our lives, the young Italian researcher was asked to join the group that, led by British vaccino- logist Sarah Gilbert, had b e g u n t h e s e a r c h f o r a n anti-Covid vaccine, resear- ch that would later lead to t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e AstraZeneca vaccine. A few weeks ago, the 32- year-old from Rimini flew to Boston to continue his work in the field and conti- nue to develop new vaccine technologies. "Now we are still focusing on Sars-Covid 2. The goal is that vaccines work against all coronavi- ruses and are easily adap- table and distributable, " h e t e l l s m e f r o m Massachusetts, where he has recently become a fel- l o w r e s e a r c h e r a t t h e Ragon Institute of MGH, M I T a n d H a r v a r d University. G i a c o m o , t e l l u s about your experience o n t h e A s t r a Z e n e c a vaccine at the Jenner I n s t i t u t e i n O x f o r d . What was your initial impression? When I started getting my hands on it, the corona- virus was an Italian disea- se, given that Italy was the first country heavily hit in the West. Day after day, going to work, I saw that the laboratory was emp- tied: only the essential per- s o n n e l k e p t c o m i n g . I obviously felt very emotio- nally close to Italy and I wanted my contribution to be a way of bringing free- d o m t o m y f a m i l y , m y friends, my country. What was the expe- r i e n c e w o r k i n g o n a vaccine during a pan- demic? First of all we just focu- sed on working, when you a r e i n a l a b o r a t o r y y o u m u s t l e a r n t o p u t everything else aside. But I cannot deny that it was dif- ficult for me to ignore what was happening in the world and in Italy; imagining that within a year we would be able to distribute a billion d o s e s a r o u n d t h e w o r l d was inconceivable then, but we did it. It was a very i n t e n s e a n d v e r y l o n e l y period because the city was empty, so it wasn't easy, as it wasn't for anyone. D o y o u h a v e f o n d memories of that time in Oxford during the lockdown, something t h a t g a v e y o u t h e s t r e n g t h t o m o v e forward in a difficult time for everyone, but even more so for scien- ce? Being with colleagues: we were isolated and spent a lot of time together. And t h e n I s t a r t e d g e t t i n g media attention that, at my age, I never expected to have. I received a lot of s u p p o r t f r o m I t a l y ; t h e mayor of my city called me several times and sent me gifts from Rimini, I felt that my city supported me and this made a big diffe- rence for me. D o y o u r e m e m b e r what you felt when the vaccine was approved? It was an emotion not comparable to others and mine was not just a perso- nal joy. I was happy for the group and obviously for the senior scientists who have been studying coronaviru- ses for decades. I was also h a p p y b e c a u s e i t i s a n e a s i l y s t o r e d a n d e a s i l y distributed vaccine. Then I w a s a l s o h a p p y f o r m y younger colleagues: in Italy w e g i v e l i t t l e c r e d i t t o younger scientists, but here the more manual work was done by 21, 22-year-olds who for a year did not see their families, they worked a l l w e e k e n d s , i s o l a t e d , a l o n e , w i t h t h e i r h e a d s down, doing repetitive jobs. So I'm proud of them and I hope they'll continue to be successful for the rest of their careers. Boris Johnson visited t h e J e n n e r I n s t i t u t e , how did it go? He was nice, he put us at ease. He cared about our work, he had just recovered from Covid. I exchanged a few words and he compli- mented the way Italy had handled the pandemic, at t h e t i m e t h e r e h a d o n l y b e e n t h e f i r s t w a v e . I replied that it was a great sacrifice but it was worth it. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , w i t h t h e second wave we were not as virtuous. Is there a lesson you l e a r n e d d u r i n g t h i s pandemic? I have learned to be cau- tious in making predictions for the future, we have seen that reality is often diffe- rent from what we expect. A t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e p a n d e m i c , w e t h o u g h t about how much the situa- tion would help us regain c o n f i d e n c e i n v a c c i n e s , given that we already had some anti-vaccinists again- st them. But it wasn't like t h a t f o r e v e r y o n e . T h e variants have also changed the cards on the table. On a p e r s o n a l l e v e l , I u n d e r - stood that this pandemic has revealed the true natu- re of many people, it has shown how people react in difficult times. We have c e r t a i n l y l e a r n e d a b o u t SILVIA GIUDICI A f t e r A s t r a Z e n e c a , t h e I t a l i a n i m m u n o l o g i s t G i a c o m o G o r i n i brings his research to Harvard LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Giacomo Gorini with PM Boris Johnson during his visit at the Jenner Institute in Oxford (Photo courtesy: Giacomo Gorini) Continued to page 12

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