'Mind in Italy', four research projects to tackle brain drain

Lombardy's government and the CNR launched the initiative

Milano, 7 ott. (Apcom) - Too many Italian talented researchers leave the country to find better and more remunerative jobs. The so called 'brain drain' affects Lombardy as well, although Milano's region is the first at a national level as for research support. In order to tackle the problem, the regional government and the CNR (the National Research Council) set up the initiative 'Mind in Italy': four projects related with as many other study areas aimed at the insertion of young people (both university and secondary school graduates) in three year-long Research and Development programmes.

The plan is going to award 64 temporary contracts, 43 research cheques, 5 doctorates and 30 scholarships, 142 positions in all. In detail, the four project areas are: New technologies and tools for energy efficiency and exploitation of renewable sources for civil uses (34 positions); Innovative biological and technological resources for the sustainable development of the agro-industrial system (21 positions); High-tech processes and consumer-oriented products for the competitiveness of Lombardy's manufacturing sector (59 positions); Nanosciences intended for materials and biomedical appliances (28 positions).

The regional government and the CNR guaranteed a 40 million-Euro overall funding (20 millions each) for the accomplishment of the four projects, which will be carried out at the regional headquarters of the National Research Council.

Shooting down cancer through a natural protein

The interferon-alpha, which is transported by blood cells

Milano, 7 ott. (Apcom) - Thanks to gene therapy a group of blood cells contributing towards tumours' growth can be taught to produce a powerful anticancer protein, the interferon-alpha. A study which was carried out by the researchers of Milano's San Raffaele University Scientific Institute, which was published on the international review 'Cancer Cell', proved it. According to them, in fact, when it is exposed to the action of the interferon protein in laboratory guinea pigs, the tumour reduces its growth.

The interferon-alpha is synthesized in our cells to protect us from viral infections. Besides, it is able to stop the multiplication of tumour cells. For this reason, this natural medicine has been used in clinical practice to treat cancer, in particular renal cell carcinoma, melanoma and some forms of leukaemia. However, it is only partially effective because of the real difficulties to direct it towards the tumour's centre in adequate quantities. In order to make up for this problem, a high quantity of interferon-alpha was injected, but the toxic effects called for the interruption of the therapy.

The new strategy invented by San Raffaele's researchers is that of producing the interferon-alpha directly from inside the tumour thanks to the Tem cells, that is blood cells favouring tumours' growth whose specific function had been spotted by the same group of researchers. This approach could be the starting point for new therapies: in fact, administering the medicine directly inside the tumours require a small quantity of bio-remedy, with a minor risk of toxicity for the organism and a major effectiveness due to its precise release.

Teaching Tem cells to produce the interferon was possible thanks to gene therapy. "We inserted new gene instructions for this function inside blood's stem cells," explained Michele De Palma, the researcher who carried out the study with Roberta Mazzieri. "Then these cells were transplanted in guinea pigs that suffered from tumour. Inside the organism, the stem cells root and, in addition to the other blood's cells, generated the Tem cells as well. The latter reached the tumour and released the interferon protein. This natural medicine slowed down the tumour's growth and, in some cases, even stopped it or limited the spread of metastasis".

The history of rock and its myths on display in Milano

In Duomo square until March 15th, then around the world

Milano, 8 ott. (Apcom) - Half a century of rock, anecdotes and above all emotions are portrayed in Milano through an exhibition, 'Rock'n'Music Planet', the first in Italy entirely dedicated to this music genre and its many myths. The material displayed, thousands of memorabilia of every kind, comes from the immense collection (which is considered as Europe's biggest) of Red Ronnie, an Italian deejay and television-radio presenter who has been building it throughout a 40 year-long passionate search.

For five months, from October 18th until March 15th, the exhibition will be held in a structure made of steel and glass that was constructed for the occasion in Duomo square. Then the event will become itinerant and for six years, until the beginning of the Universal Exhibition in 2015, it will be round the world. In particular, it will travel all over the African continent and will stop in many other countries in order to promote the World Fair.

Once the latter is finished, the exhibition will stay permanently in Milano, at the Fabbrica del Vapore, where it will turn into a 'dynamic museum'. "The museum will go on changing and growing, as all the singers performing in the city will be asked to give a memento, something belonging to them," said the municipal councillor for Sports and Leisure Giovanni Terzi, who supported the initiative.

The event stakes exactly on rare, often unique pieces. Musical instruments, playbills, autographs, posters, items, photographs, old reviews, video interviews, clothes, but also poems and compositions of those personalities who turned music into legend. Any examples? The 'African Axe' guitar autographed by Sting, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder and many more, the autographic manuscripts by Jimi Hendrix with the lyrics of the songs 'Room full of mirrors' and Bob Dylan's harmonica bearing his signature.

The masterpieces of 18th century Venetian art at Palazzo Reale

Paintings, furniture and china offered by the Terruzzi collection

Milano, 6 ott. (Apcom) - The Terruzzi private collection, one of Europe's most important, offers the public its most prestigious section, the one dedicated to 18th century Venetian art, through an exhibition curated by Annalisa Scarpa which is taking place at Milano's Palazzo Reale until January 11th, 2009.

'From Canaletto to Tiepolo. 18th century Venetian painting, furniture and china from the Terruzzi Collection' is a chronologically solid group of works. The latter gives the visitor a 'vademecum' of this school, a complete dictionary on the expressive potentials of the lagoon artists living in that era. Among the masterpieces on display there are five paintings by Canaletto, several by Tiepolo, but also Bellotto, Guardi, Fontebasso and Longhi. Furniture, china, silverware and tapestries adorn the exhibition premises as well.

"The Terruzzi collection reflects its owners' love for art and their wide knowledge," said Milano's mayor Letizia Moratti. "The love and passion for beauty, which today are very rare feelings, are a precious evidence." Moratti also underlined that some works of art, like the frescoes coming from Vicenza's Palazzo Valmarana, have never been exhibited before.