Stefano Pluchino received his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Siena, Italy, and additional training at Cambridge University, UK. ​He is currently university reader in Regenerative Neuroimmunology (2016) and honorary consultant in neurology, within the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Cambridge University. Stefano Pluchino has a strong interest in Regenerative Neuroimmunology, and his research over the last 20 years has recalibrated the classical view that cellular grafts only function through structural cell replacement and opened up a new therapeutic avenue by which to use exogenously delivered stem cells, or even stem cell-derived acellular therapies that include extracellular vesicles and exosomes.

The Pluchino team studies whether the accumulation of neurological disability observed in patients with chronic inflammatory neurological conditions can be slowed down using next generation molecular therapies. The overarching aim is to understand the basic mechanisms that allow exogenously delivered stem cells, gene therapy vectors and/or exosomes to create an environment that preserves damaged axons or prevents neurons from dying. Such mechanisms may be harnessed and used to modulate disease states in an effort to repair and/or regenerate critical components of the nervous system. By understanding the mechanisms of intercellular (stem cell) signalling, diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) may be treated more effectively, and significant neuroprotection may be achieved with new tailored molecular therapeutics.​Stefano Pluchino is recipient of numerous national and international awards, among which the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Foundation (FISM) Rita Levi-Montalcini prize for outstanding research in MS (2007) and the International Royan Award for outstanding research in Stem Cell Biology and Technology (2010). He is a 2009 Italian Ministry of Health Young Investigator Awardee and 2010 European Research Council (ERC) starting independent researcher.

His laboratory research on regenerative neuroimmunology is documented in >120 publications in international journals, including many recent articles in highly prestigious journals, such as Nature, Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Nat Cell Biol, Nat Chem Biol, PNAS, PLoS Med, Brain, Ann Neurol, and J Neurosci, as well as invited review articles in Nat Rev Neurosci, Physiol Reviews and Trends in Mol Med and Trends Immunol. His publications have to date received >12.000 citations (ISI-WOK), having a Hirsch Factor of 48.