Luca Di Tommaso

Present academic appointment

Associate Professor of Pathology, Humanitas University

Other institutional appointments

• Former member of the Senato Accademico, Humanitas University (2016-2020)
• Member, Commissione Riesame, Humanitas University (2021- to date)
• Fellow, International Academy of Cytology (2014- to date)

Affiliations (for those who also have an external affiliation)

• International Academy of Cytology (IAC)
• International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA)
• Laennec Liver Pathology Society.

Teaching appointments

• School of Medicine, Humanitas University, Medicine and Surgery:
• Course of Histology (1^st year)
• Course of History of Medicine (1^st year)
• Course of Foundation in Pathology (3^rd year)
• Course of System 1 (3^rd year)
• Course of Pathology (4^th year)
• School of Medicine, Humanitas University, Postgraduate Medical School in Pathology

Academic background

• 2004-2012 Adjunct Professor of Pathology, University of Milan, School of Medicine, Milan
• 2012-2015 Assistant Professor of Pathology, University of Milan, School of Medicine, Milan
• 2015-2021 Assistant Professor of Pathology, Humanitas University

Eucation

• 1997 M.D., “summa cum laude”, University of Bologna, School of Medicine, Bologna (Italy)
• 2003 Postgraduate Medical School in Pathology, University of Bologna, Bologna (Italy)
• 2014 Fellowship, International Academy of Cytology

Academic honors, awards and prizes

1. Research project: “ApPath: a tool of augmented pathology to evaluate the immune texture in metastatic colorectal cancer” 2018; Fondazione Humanitas per la ricerca (Fondi 5 per 1000); PI: Luca Di Tommaso
2. Research Project“Valutazione del microscopio NED-DP” 2018; Nano Tech Project; PI: Luca Di Tommaso
3. Research Project “Dissecting the role of Tumor Endothelial Cells in HCC with VETC+ angiogenesis provides potential targets of treatment” 2020; AIRC Investigator Grant (IG 2020 ID 25087) PI: Luca Di Tommaso

The main field of my research is Liver Pathology. In my early studies I investigated the morphological, phenotypical and molecular aspects of human hepato-carcinogenesis (and in particular those of pre- and early- neoplastic lesions, see selected publications 1 and 2). I then moved to the study of prognostic features of more advanced forms of hepato- and cholangio- cellular carcinoma (Primary Liver Cancer, PLC). All the above researches were focused on tumoral cells. More recently, I focused my attention on the study of tumoral microenvironment in PLC and in liver metastases, in particular Tumoral Endothelial Cells (TEC, see selected publication 3). Other fields of interest are represented by Breast, Thymic and Thyroid pathology: in each of these fields, I contributed to identify novel entities (such as the adenoid cystic variant of Thymic carcinoma). Accordingly, I am one of the authors of the 5^th version of WHO Classification of Thymic Tumors. I have a strong commitment for History of Medicine: this latter and Pathology, are my teaching topics at Humanitas University. The goal of my research was and still is the identification and set up of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive markers. Along this line, I recently developed a strong interest in the field of digital-, computational- and augmented- pathology (see selected publications 4 and 5). These, which taken as a whole go under the definition of e-Pathology, best represent the future scenario of my research and possibly its most relevant translational aspects.

1. Di Tommaso L, Franchi G, Park NY, Fiamengo B, Destro A, Morenghi E, Montorsi M, Torzilli G, Tommasini M, Terracciano L, Tornillo L, Vecchione R, Roncalli M. Diagnostic value of HSP70, glypican 3 and glutamine synthetase in hepatocellular nodules in cirrhosis. Hepatology 2007; 45(3): 725-735
2. Di Tommaso L, Destro A, Seok JY, Balladore E, Terracciano L, Sangiovanni A, Iavarone M, Colombo M, Jang JJ, Yu E, Jin SY, marenghi M, Park YN, Roncalli M The application of a panel of markers (hsp 70, gpc3, gs) in liver biopsies is useful for HCC detection. Journal of Hepatology 2009; 50(4): 746-54
3. RenneSL, WooHY, AllegraA, Rudini N, YanoH, Donadon M, ViganòL, AkibaJ, LeeHS, RheeH, ParkYN, RoncalliM, Di Tommaso L. VETC (vessels encapsulating tumor clusters) is a powerful predictor of aggressive hepatocellular carcinoma. 2020; 71(1):183-195
4. Cancian P, Cortese N, Donadon M, Di Maio M, Soldani C, Marchesi F, Savevski V, Santambrogio MD, Cerina L, Laino ME, Torzilli G, Mantovani A, Terracciano L, Roncalli M, Di Tommaso L. Development of a Deep-Learning Pipeline to Recognize and Characterize Macrophages in Colo-Rectal Liver Metastasis. Cancers (Basel). 2021; 13(13):3313.
5. Lancellotti C, Cancian P, Savevski V, Kotha SRR, Fraggetta F, Graziano P, Di Tommaso L. Artificial Intelligence & Tissue Biomarkers: Advantages, Risks and Perspectives for Pathology. Cells. 2021;10(4):787.