Graziella Persico, who died on February 5 2007, combined in her person a range of positive attributes typical of the true and profound Mediterranean spirit. Her brilliant and versatile intelligence and scientific acumen was allied to a good sense of life and strength of character. She usually preferred solving problems instead fighting battles, but she never abandoned her opinions to be pleasant or to obtain advantages.

I met Graziella in 1995 when the Italian Association for Cancer Research asked us to organize an “Italian Angiogenesis Special Project” for the following year. The Association funded 12 groups for 3 years with excellent results; Graziella and I were fortunate to participate in this fascinating scientific experience. Graziella’s role in promoting a high degree of scientific and collegial integration was crucial. Last year, when her colleagues at Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (I.G.B.) in Naples called me to say that lung cancer had stricken Graziella, I was shocked. Now I am very sad.

Graziella Persico belonged to the outstanding School of Molecular Biologists at University of Naples. She was born in Naples on May 14, 1950. After earning her degree in Biology from University Federico II of Naples, she spent 4 years at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases (NIAMDD), a branch of the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. She returned there several times for long periods until 1985. There, the ample opportunity to work on the molecular mechanisms of cell transformation by SV40 had a major influence on the development of Dr. Persico’s interests in molecular biology and genetics. In 1978, her research entered a decisive stage when she was appointed to the Laboratory of Lucio Luzzatto at I.G.B. Graziella was one of the first Italian scientists to use recombinant DNA technology and to establish the basic conditions to study the molecular basis of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, a hemolytic disorder. She cloned the gene and purified the protein (Nature, 294: 778, 1981) and extended this work to the identification of genetic variants in Mediterranean populations.

In 1986 she became an independent investigator at I.G.B. and her interests were again focused on the mechanisms of cell differentiation. After cloning CRIPTO, a molecule belonging to EGF family and relevant in the biology of normal and transformed epithelial cells, as well as in the cardiomyocyte specification, Graziella entered the field of angiogenesis, by cloning and purifying Placental Growth Factor (PlGF) (PNAS 88: 7792, 1991), a member of VEGF family, and determining its structure by crystallographic resolution. She determined that VEGFR-1 was the receptor for PlGF, and in collaboration with Peter Carmeliet, generated clear evidence that loss of PlGF does not affect development, reproduction, or normal postnatal life. However, the PlGF null mice show significantly impaired angiogenesis and arteriogenesis during pathological conditions such as ischemia and tumor formation, conditions in which the expression of VEGF-A is normally increased. This has been one of the first demonstrations of the complexity of VEGF family in regulating vessel development in different ages and conditions.

In later years, Graziella left PlGF project to her younger colleagues in the group and returned to her first scientific passion: the genetics of human diseases. She organized a multidisciplinary task force to study genetically-isolated populations for linkage disequilibrium in complex human diseases. For this endeavor, she chose one of the most uncontaminated and ancient areas near Naples: “il Cilento”.

Her colleagues at I.I.G.B told me she worked up to the end. I believe them. It was a privilege for me to be among those with whom she shared her wisdom, enthusiasm and love for science, nature (I remember her feeling for the sea, especially during the autumn), and people. I have a heavy regret: I did not recently meet Graziella.