Born in Sardinia, Italy, Mario Ganau is a practicing neurosurgeon engaged in the application of exponential technologies in the clinical practice. Nudged by these intriguing interests, he has worked tirelessly to deepen his knowledge in both surgery and basic sciences. He completed his first Ph.D. in Nanotechnology at the Synchrotron Facility in Science Park of Trieste with a dissertation thesis on a novel, diagnostic nanodevice for the proteomic analysis of malignant gliomas (the most aggressive brain tumors). He is now pursuing a second Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cagliari, where he is focused on developing and further characterizing experimental microrobots for deep brain surgical procedures. This academic path led him to spend part of his career abroad, especially in Israel, the UK, France and Switzerland.

Mario contributes to Nanotechnology Law and Business, serves as editor in several international journals, and is currently writing his first book tentatively titled Commercializing Nanomedicine: Industrial Applications, Patents and Ethics.

While at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, he is analyzing under the supervision of Professor Madison Powers the impact that nanotechnology will have on the lives of thousands of prospective patients. Particularly, he is trying to envision the best compromise between the risks coming from the early adoption of powerful nanotechnology-derived medical discoveries, and their long pre-clinical validation, which prevent potential patients from taking timely advantage of those innovative solutions.