Barbara Bottazzi was born in Milan (Italy) in 1956. She graduated in Biology in 1980 at the University of Pavia and then joined the group of Prof. Mantovani at Mario Negri Institute. Her work is focused on innate immunity. Initially she contributed to the identification of MCP- 1 and its involvement in recruitment of tumor-associated macrophages. Later her interest moved on the long pentraxin, following the production and purification of recombinant protein and the generation of antibodies. She explored the biochemical and biological properties of the protein and was actively engaged in the transfer to the clinic of the knowledge on this long pentraxin, following the development of PTX3 as biomarker in human pathologies. She has a substantial publication record, including around 200 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, 20 chapters in scientific books, and numerous abstracts presented at conferences. In addition, she has been involved in patent work and serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals