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Giuseppe Sautto Laboratory

❮Florida Research & Innovation Center Giuseppe Sautto Laboratory
  • Giuseppe Sautto Laboratory
  • Principal Investigator
  • Research
    Sautto Lab Culture Research Overview Monoclonal Antibodies Recombinant Proteins and the Next-generation Influenza Vaccine Testimonials from my former mentees and coworkers Sautto Lab Events Monthly Highlights
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Principal Investigator

Giuseppe Sautto Headshot

Giuseppe Sautto, PhD, MBA

Assistant Staff
Email: sauttog@ccf.org
Location: Cleveland Clinic Florida Research & Innovation Center

Research

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! 


Biography

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.


Education & Professional Highlights

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

Research

Research

Sautto Lab Culture

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. 

Research Overview

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:  

  1. As Next-Generation Vaccines that prophylactically prevent individuals from contracting an infection or disease 
  2. As Immunotherapies that directly neutralize threats and treat individuals who have already contracted a disease

We also work to engineer improvements in existing mAbs, by increasing binding capacity or by conferring gain-of-function effects. 

Monoclonal Antibodies

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. 

 

Recombinant Proteins and the Next-generation Influenza Vaccine

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 

Testimonials from my former mentees and coworkers

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. 

Sautto Lab Events

Conferences, Event Participations and Sautto Lab Presentations

  • July 24-27, 2022: Annual Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs) Meeting, Hyatt Regency Bethesda, MD
  • Sep 26-29, 2022: OPTIONS XI for the Control of Influenza meeting in Belfast, UK.
  • March 16-17, 2023: Second annual South Florida Translational Research Symposium. ​​Florida International University, Center for Translational Science, Port St. Lucie, FL
  • Feb 28 - March 3, 2023: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Conference Center, Seattle, WA
    • Drivers of individual variation in influenza vaccine response and protection from infection (DIVERsity) Meeting
    • ​​Correlates of Protection for Next Generation Influenza Vaccines: ‘Lessons Learned from the COVID Pandemic​'
  • Aug 6-9, 2023: Annual Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs) Meeting, Hilton West Palm Beach, FL

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

Monthly highlights from the Sautto Lab:

  • July 2022: The Sautto lab establishes at the Cleveland Clinic Florida Research & Innovation Center
  • Sep 2022: New publication in Vaccines! "Kinetic of the Antibody Response Following Addavax- Adjuvanted Immunization with Recombinant Influenza Antigens"
  • Dec 2022: Yailin Campos Mota joins the Sautto Lab. Welcome onboard Yailin!
  • Feb 2023: New publication in Cell Reports! "Functional HIV-1/HCV cross-reactive antibodies isolated from a chronically co-infected donor"
  • April 2023: The Sautto Lab receives funding in collaboration with MetCure Therapeutics LLC, on "Small-molecule therapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer".
  • May 2023:
    • Dr. Gabriel Costa joins the Sautto Lab. Welcome onboard Gabriel!
    • New publication in Communications Biology! "Structural insights into the broad protection against H1 influenza viruses by a computationally optimized hemagglutinin vaccine"
  • June 2023:
    • The Sautto Lab receives the 2023 Research Accelerator Award for the project "Development of a broadly reactive hepatitis C virus (HCV) vaccination"
    • Dr. Sautto receives Adjunct Faculty Appointment at Florida International University, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Department of Cellular Biology and Pharmacology
  • July 2023: New publication in Frontiers Tropical Diseases by Dr. Costa: "Malaria mitochondrial diagnosis: Challenges and Pitfalls"
  • Aug 2023: Dr. Sautto was admitted to the Compass Leadership and Management Training and Mentoring Program, coordinated by the School of Medicine of the Washington University in St. Louis and supported by the NIGMS of NIH
  • Sep 2023: The Sautto Lab was awarded a research agreement in collaboration with Pomona Ricerca S.r.l. which will study the preclinical characterization of the immune response after immunization with two anti-idiotype monoclonal antibodies

Our Team

Our Team

Publications

Selected Publications

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.)


Careers

Careers

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. 


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