Miami Scientific Italian Community partner for third year
Despite the awful impact of the COVID pandemic, degenerative diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc.) remain the leading cause of death and disability worldwide with a tremendous social and economic burden. Degenerative diseases are characterized by cell death and/or functional impairment that leads to tissue damage and organ failure. The currently available therapies can only reduce the symptoms and provide temporary relief. This points out the need to discover and implement new treatment options and improve existing ones. For instance, recent studies have suggested that stem cell therapies can replace the dead/malfunctioning cells and provide a permanent solution to the problem. The outcome of initial stem-cells-based clinical trials was positive and encouraging but there are several challenges in taking stem cell-based therapies to the clinic. Therefore, more efforts are urgently required to improve the knowledge about stem cell behavior and their secretome, novel biomaterials, and the microenvironment of the recipient tissue. The University of Rome Tor Vergata, the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences of St. Boniface Hospital Research, Winnipeg, and the University of Naples Vanvitelli have been engaged in joint efforts to explore long-term strategies to create multinational networks committed to expand the knowledge and develop innovative technological solutions to treat degenerative diseases.
“The annual International symposium represents the opportunity to inject new energy in the already established research endeavors and to spark off novel ideas to exploit in joint collaborative efforts, said Prof. Paolo Di Nardo, Director of the Center of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. The interactive online event that we are organizing (www.romeregenerative.org) will offer the latest and most significant developments in basic, industry-oriented, and clinical research in the field” involving some of the most advanced laboratories focused on the different aspects of the regenerative medicine. Also, the ambition of the Symposium is to help recently established laboratories in newly industrialized countries to expand their potential so that they can factually contribute to the solution of the many issues still open”.
Di Nardo continues, “academic and industrial participants will get opportunities to discuss prospects in the area of stem cells, tissue engineering, and related research to establish a concrete platform for technology development in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering and in this sense, the Miami Scientific Italian Community, represents a natural facilitator in support of the processes of technology transfer, internationalization, able to help our scientific and technical excellence”.
“The success in the field of research is always the result of a team effort that involves many actors such as researchers, universities, institutions and research centers that all work together to achieve an ambitious goal, said Fabio De Furia, President of the Miami Scientific Italian Community, and we recognize the commitment of Prof. Di Nardo for the realization of a new research model that includes the most significant experiences in the field, regardless of their geographical location”.
