Andrea Bolognesi is Professor of General Pathology at the School of Medicine and Chief of the Laboratory of Toxic Enzymes and Immunotargeting at the Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine (DIMES) of the University of Bologna. His current fields of investigation include identification, purification and characterization of plant toxic polynucleotide:adenosine glycosylases, also named ribosome-inactivating proteins, and their use as components of immunotoxins, mainly developed for the experimental therapy of cancer. A further research line concerns xanthine oxidoreductase and its involvement in: dyslipidemia, diabetes, smoking-derived diseases, atherosclerosis, hypertension and induction of pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic activity in endothelial cells.