D3 Launches April 9 2010!
On April 9th 2010 the Italian Institute of Technology will hold the official launch of the Drug Discovery and Development Unit, PharmaFuture 2010. Co-sponsored by BioCentury and SciBx, PharmaFuture 2010 will highlight promising developments in the field of pharma business and drug discovery. Key speakers include Bill Burns, former CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, and Sergio Dompé, President of Farmindustria. Click here for the event agenda.
New section in D3
Check out our new section: Drug Discovery - Made in Italy Italy’s creative spirit in the arts is well known. But throughout history Italy has also played an important role in many fields of science, including the discovery of new medicines. This rich tradition forms the basis for our work at the D3.Please take a brief tour of Italy’s contributions to drug discovery
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Rollover with mouse to see how platforms converge into different areas of research
IIT core activities are pursued in the departments created during the start-up phase with the recruitment of internationally acknowledged scientists.
- 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.
- Nanobiotech Facility Laboratories endowed with state-of-the-art instrumentation to pursue research at micro and nanoscale length, organized in the three units and facilities of Nanochemistry, Nanofabrication, Nanophysics and Computer Imaging.
- 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).
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems (Director: John Assad) Broadly concerned with studies of in vivo neuronal systems and circuits in animal models, and cognitive systems approaches in both humans and animal models.
- 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.
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).
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Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care
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Center for Nano Science and Technology
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Center for Space Human Robotics
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Center for Micro-BioRobotics
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Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive System |
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Center For Nanotechnology Innovation
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ISI Genomics Center of Genomic Science
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Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies
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