Assistant Staff
Email: sauttog@ccf.org
Location:
Cleveland Clinic Florida Research & Innovation Center
Our Mission: To research and develop broadly effective next-generation vaccines and immunotherapies for difficult-to-eradicate diseases.
Our vision: To be the foremost lab in vaccine and immunotherapy development.
The Sautto Lab focuses on developing next generation vaccines and therapies that protect against different infectious pathogens, multiple strains of the same pathogen, and even some cancers. The goal of next-generation vaccines and therapies is to maximize the amount of effectiveness in protection and treatment of exposed or infected individuals, while minimizing the number of overall vaccinations, boosters and doses they must receive.
We specifically focus on developing and using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) as tools to design novel vaccines and treat infectious diseases, especially from viral pathogens, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV), influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2.
We investigate the potential of these mAbs as possible therapeutics to directly neutralize infections, and as indirect treatments to prevent the infection from ever occurring.
We also engineer and improve mAbs. Our abilities to improve characteristics such as their binding or stability, or to add new functions such as in the case of chimeric antigen receptors, represent a promising and creative approach for difficult-to-eradicate pathogens.
Learn more in the research tab!
Dr. Sautto obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Medical Biotechnology at the University of Milan (Italy) in 2006. He then received a Master’s Degree in Molecular and Cellular Medical Biotechnology in 2008, and a PhD in Molecular Medicine in 2012 at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan.He gave also lectures on Microbiology and Virology to undergraduate and graduate students as adjunct professor.
He joined as a visiting scientist the International Novartis BioCamp in Basel (Switzerland) in 2012, the Institut de Biologie Structurale in Grenoble (France) in 2013, the Institute of Virology of the Technical University of Munich (Germany) in 2014. In 2016 he moved to the US at the Center for Vaccines and Immunology of the University of Georgia, where he expanded is area of investigation to the development and characterization of next-generation vaccines. During this period at the University of Georgia, he also completed the MBA program of the Terry College of Business. Through the training funds he was awarded, he also had the opportunity to join as a visiting scientist the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Texas at Austin.
He is author, editor and reviewer of several international scientific journals. In 2015 he was awarded by the Carlo Erba Foundation for his research activity on viral diseases.
B.S. - Medical Biotechnology; University of Milan, Italy;
M.S. - Molecular and Cellular Medical Biotechnology; Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan Italy; 11/24/2008
Ph.D. - Molecular Medicine; Vita-Salute San Raffaele University; Milan, Italy; 04/24/2012
Professional Exam - Biology; University of Insubria, Varese, Italy; 12/2015
MBA - Terry College of Business; University of Georgia, USA; 03/2022
Lab culture statement: Our laboratory focuses on creating and maintaining an equitable and inclusive lab environment. The foundation of this culture is to establish internal and external collaborations: that means a collaborative culture inside and outside the lab and the institute.
The Sautto Lab focuses on generating molecules, particularly monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), that target infectious pathogens and some cancer types. We strive to generate molecules with multiple therapeutic applications:
We also work to engineer improvements in existing mAbs, by increasing binding capacity or by conferring gain-of-function effects.
One of our main areas of focus has been generating mAbs to target highly variable pathogens. We are developing treatments for influenza virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV), SARS-CoV-2, RSV and many opportunistic fungal infections using our mAb development pipeline, depicted below.
We have been working to develop recombinant proteins that can act as a next-generation influenza vaccine and target multiple virus strains. In 2021 we developed a pipeline to produce and purify recombinant proteins produced in mammalian cell lines through either transient transfection or generation of stable cell lines from plasmid creation through the isolation step via Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC). Collectively, the establishment of this pipeline has facilitated large-scale production of recombinant influenza virus proteins of high purity and with consistent yields, including glycosylation patterns that are very similar to proteins produced in a human host. You can read the paper here!
Pictured: Schematic of our recombinant influenza glycoproteins. Ecker et al., 2021. Vaccines
Pictured: The Sautto Lab “Recombinant Protein Factory”, housed in the Cleveland Clinic Florida Research and Innovation Center
Excerpts taken from my LinkedIn page:
“Today’s scientist must be perseverant, insightful and socially skilled, to build strong and long-lasting collaborations. Giuseppe is all three, being able to generate data at the bench, manage and supervise junior staff, while establishing external collaborations and securing start-up funding for his research.” - Rodrigo Abreu, 15 October 2020. Worked together in the University of Georgia Center for Vaccines & Immunology from 2018 - 2020
“In the year I was tutored by Dr. Sautto I was taught both basic and advanced laboratory techniques; in addition, he helped my improving in terms of critical thinking and science writing. Dr. Sautto tends to create a friendly working environment around him, and perfectly handles stress and multi-tasking... It is both for his personality and scientific proficiency that Dr. Sautto and I have remained in touch after the completion of my internship.” - Giacomo Gorini, 15 June 2016. Mentored directly by Dr. Sautto in Dr. Clementi’s and Burioni’s laboratory at San Raffaele Research institute in 2012-2013.
“Giuseppe has constantly and patiently followed my work-project... He taught me several molecular techniques and he followed me during the writing of the experimental thesis. In my opinion he is an excellent scientist with strong organizational skills and communication skills. He is also a very nice and generous person. Even now, he is always ready to give me advice and tips.” - Giovanni Pipitone, Co-mentored by Dr. Sautto in the Microbiology and Virology laboratory of "Università Vita-Salute S.Raffaele" from 2012 to 2014.
Conferences, Event Participations and Sautto Lab Presentations
We did a photoshoot in June of 2023! Take a look inside our lab:
Dr. Giuseppe Sautto speaking with Yailin Campos (lab technologist) and Dr. Gabriel Costa (postdoctoral fellow).
Yailin Campos (Lab technologist in the Sautto lab): “…I was looking at the Florida Research and Innovation Center from a window of the Tradition Hospital and dreaming about working there one day”
Monthly highlights from the Sautto Lab:
View publications for Giuseppe Sautto, PhD, MBA
(Disclaimer: This search is powered by PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. PubMed is a third-party website with no affiliation with Cleveland Clinic.)
We are always looking for creative, driven talent to join our team! Please contact Dr. Sautto at sauttog@ccf.org with your CV and a cover letter.
Our education and training programs offer hands-on experience at one of the nationʼs top hospitals. Travel, publish in high impact journals and collaborate with investigators to solve real-world biomedical research questions.
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