Valeria De Giorgi, MSc, PhD

MSc, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
PhD, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

Dr. De Giorgi earned her master's degree in molecular biology and her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Naples Federico II. She is currently the Chief of the Infectious Diseases Section at the NIH Department of Transfusion Medicine.

Dr. De Giorgi has over a decade of experience in both academic and clinical settings, including a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she investigated the correlation of hepatitis viruses and cancer and developed a multiplex platform able to screen more than 30 blood borne pathogens in one test. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and has been presenting her work at international conferences, sharing her insights on viral genomics and diagnostics.

As the director of the Transfusion Transmitted Viruses lab (TTV) Laboratory and the Molecular Virology Lab (MVL) at the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Dr. De Giorgi leads a multidisciplinary team dedicated to advancing molecular techniques for identifying and characterizing emerging and re-emerging infections in the blood supply, and address possible mechanisms whereby hepatitis viruses may contribute to lymphomagenesis and other hematologic malignancies. Her research not only contributes to basic science but also has practical applications in outbreak management and testing platform development.

Dr. De Giorgi is also the DTM Associate Director for Research and a faculty for the DTM ACGME-accredited Transfusion Medicine Fellowship Program. She serves as member of the transfusion-transmitted infectious diseases (TTID) committee for the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT), the NIH CC Hospital Infections Committee and as reviewer and associate editor for multiple high-impact scientific journals.

• Secretary's Commendation Award (exceptional service and leadership the COVID-19 Pandemic), 2023
• NIH Clinical Center CEO Award (Outstanding leadership), 2023
• NIH Director's Award (Exceptional dedication in SARS-Cov2 testing and reporting), 2022
• NIH Clinical Center CEO Award (Clinical care Support), 2022
• NIH Clinical Center CEO Award (SARS-Cov2 screening for CC patients and staff), 2021
• NIH Clinical Center CEO Award (Development of a novel COVID-19 antibody screening assay) 2021
• NIH Clinical Center CEO Award (Development and scale-up COVID-19 testing), 2020
• NIH Clinical Center CEO Award (COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma), 2020
• Trainee Satellite Symposium Award, from the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) 2014

Natural History Studies, a Natural Next Step to Study Emerging Transfusion-Transmitted Infections. Miller MJ, Perinet L, Alter HJ, Conry-Cantilena K, De Giorgi V. Transfusion Med Rev. 2024 Apr; PMID: 38364616

Inflammatory signaling in NASH driven by hepatocyte mitochondrial dysfunctions. Myint M, Oppedisano F, De Giorgi V, Kim BM, Marincola FM, Alter HJ, Nesci S. J Transl Med. 2023 Oct 26;21(1); PMID: 37884933

Seasonal increase in syphilis screening reactivity rates in whole blood donors, United States, 2011-2023. Miller MJ, Long JO, Conry-Cantilena K, Chen LN, West-Mitchell KA, De Giorgi V. Transfusion. 2024 Jul 5; PMID: 38966907

Consideration for alpha-gal syndrome in two critically ill persons with group O blood who received group B plasma. Miller MJ, Lee P, Lee BG, Flegel WA, West-Mitchell K, Conry-Cantilena K, De Giorgi V. Transfusion. 2024 May;PMID: 38566573

The prospect of universal coronavirus immunity: a characterization of reciprocal and non-reciprocal T cell responses against SARS-CoV2 and common human coronaviruses. Soni M, Migliori E, Fu J, Assal A, Chan HT, Pan J, Khatiwada P, Ciubotariu R, May MS, Pereira M, De Giorgi V, Sykes M, Mapara MY, Muranski P. Front Immunol. 2023 Oct 13. PMID: 37901229

Kinetics and durability of humoral and cellular response of SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA vaccine in a lung and kidney transplant recipient. Long J, Soni M, Muranski P, Miller MJ, Conry-Cantilena C, De Giorgi V. Case Report: Front Immunol. 2023 Jul 3; PMID: 37465681

Potent monoclonal antibodies neutralize Omicron sublineages and other SARS-CoV-2 variants.Chen Z, Zhang P, Matsuoka Y, Tsybovsky Y, West K, Santos C, Boyd LF, Nguyen H, Pomerenke A, Stephens T, Olia AS, Zhang B, De Giorgi V, Holbrook MR, Gross R, Postnikova E, Garza NL, Johnson RF, Margulies DH, Kwong PD, Alter HJ, Buchholz UJ, Lusso P, Farci P. Cell Rep. 2022 Nov 1; PMID: 36302375

Peripheral B cells from patients with HCV-associated B cell lymphoma exhibit an anergic-like transcriptional profile and evidence of clonal expansion Amanda N. Henning, Delgerbat Boldbaatar, Myagmarjav Budeebazar, Huizhi Zhou, Ryan Baumann, Robert D. Allison, Harvey J. Alter, Naranjargal Dashdorj, Valeria De Giorgi. iScience. 2022 Dec 15; PMID: 36619973

Immunomagnetic B cell isolation as a tool to study blood cell subsets and enrich B cell transcripts Henning AN, Green D, Baumann R, Grandinetti P, High ll SL, Zhou H, De Giorgi V. BMC ResNotes. 2021 Nov 18; PMID: 34794498

Regulatory challenges of convalescent plasma collection during the evolving stages of COVID-19 pandemic. Hassan S, West KA, Conry-Cantilena K, De Giorgi V. Transfusion. 2021 Nov 15; PMID: 34778974

HCV infection alters salivary gland histology and saliva composition. Maldonado J, Beach M, Wang Y, Perez Riveros P, Yin H, Pelayo E, Fowler S, Alevizos I, Grisius M, Baer A, Walitt B, De Giorgi V, Alter H, Warner B, Chiorini J. Journal of Dental Research, June 2021; PMID: 35045743

Naturally acquired SARS-CoV-2 immunity persists for up to 11 months following infection. De Giorgi V, West KA, Henning AN, Chen LN, Holbrook MR, Gross R, Liang Postnikova E, Trenbeath J, Pogue S, Scinto T, Alter HJ, Cantilena CC. J Infect Dis. 2021 Jun 5. PMID: 34089610

Pooled Saliva Specimens for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Barat B, Das S, De Giorgi V, Henderson D K, Kopka S, Lau A F, Miller T, Moriarty T, Palmore T N,Sawney S, Spalding C, Tanjutco P,Wortmann G, Zelazny A M, Frank K M. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 2020 Dec 1; JCM.02486-20. PMID: 33262219

A microarray-based pathogen chip for simultaneous molecular detection of transfusion-transmitted infectious agents De Giorgi V, Zhou H, Alter HJ, Allison R. J Transl. Med., 17 (1), 156 2019 May 14. PMID: 31088488

Ex vivo AKT-inhibition facilitates generation of polyfunctional stem cell memory-like CD8+ T cells for adoptive immunotherapy. Mousset CM, Hobo W, Ji Y, Fredrix H, De Giorgi V, Allison RD, Kester MGD, Falkenburg JHF, Schaap NPM, Jansen JH, Gattinoni L, Dolstra H, and Van Der Waart AB. Oncoimmunology, June 2018. PMID: 30288356

Binding of Free and Immune Complex-Associated Hepatitis C Virus to Erythrocytes Is Mediated by the Complement System. Salam KA, Wang RY, Grandinetti T, De Giorgi V, Alter HJ, Allison RD. Hepatology. 2018 Dec;68(6):2118-2129. PMID: 29742812

Preferential association of hepatitis C virus with CD19+ B cells is mediated by complement system. Wang RY, Bare P, De Giorgi V, Matsuura K, Salam KA, Grandinetti T, Schechterly C, Alter HJ. Hepatology. 2016 Dec;64(6):1900-1910. PMID: 27641977

Circulating let-7 levels in plasma and extracellular vesicles correlate with hepatic fibrosis progression in chronic hepatitis C. Matsuura K, De Giorgi V, Schechterly C, Wang RY, Farci P, Tanaka Y, Alter HJ. Hepatology. 2016 Sep;64(3):732-45. PMID: 27227815

Melanoma NOS1 expression promotes dysfunctional IFN signaling.Liu Q, Tomei S, Ascierto ML, De Giorgi V, Bedognetti D, Dai C, Uccellini L, Spivey T, Pos Z, Thomas J, Reinboth J, Murtas D, Zhang Q, Chouchane L, Weiss GW, Slinglu CC, Lee P, Rosenberg SA, Alter H, Yao K, Wang E, Marincola FM. J Clin Invest. 2014 May;124(5):2147-59. PMID: 24691438

Molecular Signatures Associated with Human Liver Cancer. De Giorgi V, Buonaguro L, Worschech A, Tornesello ML, Izzo F, Marincola FM, Wang E and Buonaguro FM. PLoS One 2013;8(2):e56153. PMID: 23441164

Uccellini L, De Giorgi V, Zhao Y, Tumaini B, Erdenebileg N, Dudley ME, Tomei S, Bedognetti D, Ascierto ML, Liu Q, Simon R, Kottyan L, Kaufman KM, Harley JB,Wang E, Rosenberg SA, Marincola FM. IRF5 gene polymorphisms in melanoma. J. Transl Med. 2012 Aug 21;10(1):170

Spivey TL, De Giorgi V, Zhao Y, Bedognetti D, Pos Z, Liu Q, Tomei S, Ascierto ML, Uccellini L, Chouchanne L, Stroncek DF, Wang E, and Marincola FM. The stable traits of melanoma genetics: An alternate approach to target discovery. BMC Genomics. 2012 Apr 26; PMID: 22537248

Overexpression of HGF Promotes HBV-Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression and Is an Effective Indicator for Met-Targeting Therapy.Xie Q, Su Y, Dykema K, Johnson J, Koeman J, De Giorgi V, Huang A, Schlegel R, Essenburg C, Kang L, Iwaya K, Seki S, Khoo SK, Zhang B, Buonaguro F, Marincola FM, Furge K, Vande Woude GF, Shinomiya N. Genes Cancer. 2013 Jul; PMID: 24167653

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) autocrine activation predicts sensitivity to MET inhibition in Glioblastoma. Xie Q, Bradley R, Kang L, Koeman J, Ascierto ML,Worschech A, De Giorgi V, Wang E, Kefene L, Su Y, Essenburg C, Kaufman D, DeKoning T, Enter MA, O'Rourke TJ, Marincola FM and Vande Woude GF. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jan 10; PMID: 22203985

Gene profiling, biomarkers and pathways characterizing HCV-related hepatocellular carcinoma. De Giorgi V, Monaco A, Worchech A, Tornesello ML, Izzo F, Buonaguro L, Marincola FM, Wang E and Buonaguro FM. J Transl Med. 2009 Oct 12; PMID: 19821982