IIT is proud to announce the launch of the first Neuroscience Workshop!

The workshop is being held in IIT in Genova and will present the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience achieved by IIT scientists. The dense program provides three plenary lectures and 30 talks on Brain Technology, Brain Diseases and Brain Plasticity. The meeting offers a unique opportunity to catch up on new developments in neuroscience, meet and interact with long-time colleagues, and develop new collaborations.

Click here to download the info sheet.

If you have any questions or require more information please do not hesitate to contact us.

In the meantime please visit the site at least to have a look at the cool images on the gallery. Enjoy!

IIT is proud to announce that as of today Friday 16th April 2010 the 8 IIT Center sites went live.

The 8 IIT Centers develop scientific objectives expressed by the research platforms listed in the 2009-2011 strategic plan and significantly enrich the technological portfolio of the Institute. The Centers are integral part of the IIT and are located within the premises of Italian academic institutions, following the intention of collaborating, through its research personnel and instrumentation, with the Italian research system.

The IIT Centers and hosting institutions are:

	Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care at the Università Federico II, Napoli (CABHC@CRIB)
	Center for Nanoscience and Technology at the Politecnico di Milano (CNST@POLIMI)
	Center for Space Human Robotics at the Politecnico di Torino (CSHR@POLITO)
	Center for Micro- BioRobotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa (CMBR@SSSA)
	Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems at the Università di Trento (CNCS@UNITN)
	Center for Nanotechnology Innovation at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (CNI@NEST)
	ISI GenOmics – Center of Genomic Science at the IFOM-IEO-SEMM, Milano (CGS@SEMM)
	Center for Bio-molecular Nanotechnologies at the Università del Salento (CBN@UNILE)

Around 200 leaders from the pharmaceutical industry, venture capital and academia attended the launch of the Drug Discovery and Development Unit (D3) at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa on Friday 9th April

Roberto Cingolani, Scientific Director of the IIT, welcomed guests to the 30,000 square metres of newly equipped lab space, including nanobiotec hnology and neuroscience, which now employs nearly 600 scientists from 38 countries.

Daniele Piomelli, Director of the D3, said D3 would be focused on discovering new drugs in pain, inflammation and dementia and is looking to partner with external collaborators to advance key projects.

The launch event, entitled PharmaFuture 2010, heard leaders from the pharmaceutical industry predict that the future of new medicines would depend on collaborations between academia, biotechnology and industry.

“The key way to move forward in drug discovery and development is to have good interconnectivity”, Bill Burns, the newly retired Chief Executive Officer of Roche Pharmaceuticals, told delegates.

“No single institution is doing all of the right things, so partnerships are crucial to the development of innovative new medicines. The industry needs to harness science from hybrid groups like the D3, who are working in an inspired way to advance the discovery of new drugs in important therapeutic areas.”

Sergio Dompé, President of Italy’s pharmaceutical industry association, Farmindustria encouraged local industry to form collaborations to further drug discovery.

“Here in Italy we have extremely skilled scientists who have great ideas, but we face a challenge in getting new R&D projects off the ground,” he said. “Collaborations between industry and academia, such as the model employed here at D3, are crucial to the success of the Italian pharmaceutical industry”.