Eduardo Bonavita is a junior group leader at Humanitas Research Hospital, where he leads the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Oncoimmunology.

Dr. Bonavita obtained his master degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Salerno in 2009, by defending a thesis on the effect of Toll-like receptor 9 agonists in modulating immune responses in lung cancer. In 2010 he joined the laboratory of Prof. Cecilia Garlanda and Prof. Alberto Mantovani at Humanitas Research Hospital to study the inflammatory processes associated with cancer development and progression. In 2014, he was awarded a fellowship from the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC-AIRC) and in 2015 he obtained a Ph.D. in Immunology and Life Sciences from The Open University (Milton Keynes, UK).

During his studies, Dr. Bonavita uncovered the essential role of Pentraxin-3 and the Complement system in regulating tumor-promoting inflammation. Moreover, he studied the properties of Interleukin-1 receptor 8 in controlling NK cell activity and described its role as an NK cell checkpoint receptor in both viral infections and anti-tumor immunity. Notably, his discoveries were recognized by the ACTERIA-EFIS award as the best Ph.D. thesis in Immunology in Europe (2015-2018).

In 2016 Dr. Bonavita joined the group led by Dr. Santiago Zelenay at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, where he was awarded an EMBO long-term fellowship in 2016, and an EMBO advanced fellowship in 2019 to investigate the mechanisms of immune evasion in cancer driven by cyclooxygenase 2/prostaglandin E2 axis, in a project with extensive translational potential.

After more than 6 years in England, in 2022, thanks to the AIRC start-up program, he joined Humanitas Research Hospital to start his independent Lab, which focuses on understanding the instructive mechanisms of immune escape in cancer to designing new therapeutic strategies for patients.