As the result of an agreement between the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - Italian Institute of Technology - and the University of Genoa the call for the three year Doctoral School on “Life and Humanoid Technologies” has been opened.

Call

The School is organized in four different Courses:
1.    Drug Discovery;
2.    Nanosciences;
3.    Neuroscience and Brain Technologies;
4.    Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Technologies.

Information about Research Themes and purposes of each Course are detailed in the following annexes:

•    Drug Discovery: A1;
•    Nanosciences: A2;
•    Neuroscience and Brain Technologies: A3;
•    Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Technologies: A4.

Please note that in the application the selection of the Doctoral Course and the Research Theme of interest is mandatory.  

The online application is available from August 16, 2010 at 9.00 am (Italian time) to September 24, 2010 at 12.00 noon (Italian time).

Departments

• Advanced Robotics (Director: Darwin Caldwell) Advanced Robotics combines activities from both the hard (mechanical/ electrical design and fabrication, sensor systems, actuation development etc.) and soft (control, computer software, human factors etc) systems areas of robotics.
• Drug Discovery and Development (Director: Daniele Piomelli) Our team of basic scientists and experienced drug hunters works, in collaboration with private partners, to discover innovative drugs for chronic diseases such as pain, inflammation and dementia.
• Neuroscience and Brain Technologies (Director: Fabio Benfenati) The brain is still considered the best performing computation device known so far. It exhibits astonishing properties including highly complex and hierarchic organization, input integration, parallel computation, emergent properties, functional and structural adaptation (plasticity).
• Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Director: Giulio Sandini) Consolidate the on-going research program on "human centred" systems along three main research streams: humanoid robotics with a focus on cognition, human behavioral studies with a focus on action and perception, human-machine communication and interaction with a strong emphasis on the technological and scientific advancement of bidirectional direct interface to the nervous systems.
• Telerobotics and Applications (Director: Jean-Guy Fontaine) Provide short term technology solutions to the increasing demand of automation and robotics worldwide.

Nanobiotech Facility and Laboratories

• Nanochemistry headed by Liberato Manna
• Nanofabrication headed by Enzo di Fabrizio
• Nanophysics headed by Alberto Diaspro including Computer Imaging headed By Vittorio Murino

	Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care Cell Instructive Materials Endothelial nanoshuttles 3D integrated platforms for high throughput and multiple detection
	Center for Nano Science and Technology Artificial retina/eye Carbon nanocomposites Hybrid solar cells
	Center for Space Human Robotics Robotics for aerospace Sensors & MEMS
	Center for Micro-BioRobotics Microrobotics
	Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive System Active Vision Brain Stimulation

	Center For Nanotechnology Innovation Lab on chip for ultrasensitive automated diagnostics Nanomedicine tools for diagnostics and therapeutics Nanoproducts and environmental safety assessment Energy storage/scavenging Modeling of biological/inorganic interfaces
	ISI Genomics Center of GenOmic Science Robotized, imaging based, high-throughput Screening Unit for cell based screening Empowering genomics-proteomics platforms for analysis of biological samples Development of next generation sequence technologies with electrochemical detection systems
	Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies MEMs/new sensors for robotics Solid state genomics Interaction of biological structures with nanomaterials Smart surfaces, Responsive composites Biocomposites Nanofibers Plastic solar cells, plastic lighting, Grezel cells Density functional software

The technological portfolio, provided by the initial goals, is increased with the introduction of the following new research platforms:

• Robotics:Robotics focused in all aspects of engineering (primarily electronics and mechanical) and computer science, strongly influenced (and influencing) developments in areas such as neuroscience, physiology, psychology, mathematics, physics, chemistry and biological science.

• Neuroscience:The Neuroscience platform at IIT are dedicated to investigating brain function at all levels – from molecules, synapses and neurons to large-scale, multi-areal neural circuits in the intact brain.
  

• Energy:Portable energy sources, plastic solar cells, energy harvesting, energy storage, energy scavenging, fuel cell technologies (descending from the Robotics platform. Relevant to self-powered technologies, and of wide international and industrial interest).

• EHS (Evironment, Health, Security):Interaction of nanosystems with biological entities, in pharmacology, therapies, and any other human environment (descending from the Neuroscience platform, the Pharmacology platform and from the nanobiotech facilities.

• Smart Materials: Lightweight nanocomposites, intelligent biocompatible surfaces, interface living systems/inorganic systems, textile/fiber engineering (descending from the Robotics platform and the nanobiotech facilities. Relevant for future non-metallic robots, and of wide international and industrial interest for environmentally friendly materials, biocompatible materials, new generation sensors, etc).

• D4 (Drug Discovery, Development and Diagnostics): An extension and a completion of the existing drug discovery development platform (pursued by the D3 department). In addition to the D3 activities, advanced diagnostic tools such as chip for genomic and proteomic analysis, nanocarrier for in vivo drug delivery will be developed.

• Integrated Multiscale Computational Technology: Developing world-class open source software for advanced modeling of complex systems of interest to the above platforms (eg density functional methods for modeling at the atomic scale systems relevant to the above platforms).

Rollover with mouse to see how platforms converge into different areas of research