Prof. Pierluigi Nicotera obtained his PhD at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where he worked as Research Assistant Professor/Senior University Lecturer from 1986 to 1994. In 1995, he became Professor and Chairman of Molecular Toxicology at the University of Konstanz. In 2002, he was recruited as Director of the British Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit and Honorary Professor of Neuroscience (Dept. of Cell Physiology & Pharmacology), University of Leicester. Since 2009, he is the Scientific and Executive Director of DZNE (Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen), Bonn, Germany.