Celebrating academic excellence and achievements in fundamental cancer research that have the potential for future clinical development

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2025 Pezcoller Foundation-EACR Translational Cancer Researcher Award is Ido Amit (Weizmann Institute of Science).

The Pezcoller Foundation-EACR Translational Cancer Researcher Award celebrates academic excellence and achievements in fundamental cancer research that have the potential for future clinical development. The award is presented annually to a researcher of excellence with no more than 15 years post-doctoral experience (or equivalent degree).

Ido Amit will give the prestigious Pezcoller Foundation – EACR Translational Cancer Researcher Award Lecture at the EACR 2025 Congress. He will also be invited to give a lecture in Trento, Italy, at the Pezcoller Foundation, and will receive a €10,000 honorarium.  

About the Winner

Professor Ido Amit has led and pioneered the development of single-cell genomics and its application to characterization of the immune system. Noticeably, his lab has made some of the most dramatic technology developments in this emerging field. His research using these technologies has revolutionized our understanding of the immune system, identifying dozens of new immune cell states and pathways and their roles in tumor immunology. 

Ido is a world leader and pioneer of modern immunology and Cancer Immunology, with outstanding contributions and discoveries that are greatly impacting and shaping basic immunology and immunotherapy research. His research studying the complex immune – tumour interaction enabled the discovery of a highly central immune regulatory tumour associated macrophages checkpoint blocking effective immunotherapy responses - the TREM2 pathway. His research uncovered that TREM2 is a potent myeloid checkpoint regulating the pathological immune microenvironment. These studies have led to an international effort to translate myeloid checkpoints and the TREM2 pathway for cancer therapy that are already showing promising pre-clinical results. 

In cancer, Immune checkpoint inhibition treatment using anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibodies is a promising cancer immunotherapy approach effecting the lives of millions, yet most patients remain unresponsive. In a seminal study, Prof. Amit research has showed that the crosstalk between conventional type I dendritic cells (cDC1) and T cells is essential for an effective aPD-1-mediated T cell response and anti-tumour efficacy. Accordingly, this has led his team to develop a novel immunotherapy technology; Bispecific Immune Synapse Engager (BiSE), facilitating tumour specific physical interactions between T cells and cDC1. BiSE treatment promoted the formation of active dendritic/T cell immune synapses in the tumour, resulting in potent anti-tumour activity in currently incurable cancer models. BiSE introduces a new concept in immunotherapy, engineering immune cell circuits to reactivate communication pathways for effective anti-tumour immunity for currently incurable cancer.

About the Pezcoller Foundation

The Pezcoller Foundation is a non-profit institution, whose goal is to promote scientific research against diseases which afflict mankind, specifically the fight against cancer. The Founder, Prof. Alessio Pezcoller, was Chief Surgeon at Santa Chiara Hospital in Trento, Italy. The Foundation was established in 1980.

The Foundation depends primarily on the substantial sum of money bequeathed by Professor Alessio Pezcoller, and by significant contributions from its sponsors: the Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto Foundation, the Province of Trento, the Administrative Councils of Trento and of Rovereto and other occasional private donations.

Due to its ever increasing recognition within the international oncological community, the Foundation collaborates with some of the most important cancer institutions: the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR). The Pezcoller Awards are officially recognised during the international conferences of the two above mentioned associations.