PNRR Projects
PNRR 2023
22 scientific research projects coordinated by the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital have won ministerial funding from the second PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), with the objective of boosting biomedical research.
Oncology
1. New preclinical and clinical approaches to mesothelioma, an archetypal inflammatory tumor
PI: Marco Emilio Giuseppe Bianchi
Aim: to identify new preclinical and clinical therapeutic approaches in patients suffering from malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).
2. Radio-immunotherapy of solid tumors
Aim: to verify both the immunomodulatory effects of highly hypofractionated radiotherapy in patients suffering from prostate cancer and identify selective criteria for the patients who can best respond to this treatment, and to validate extremely hypofractionated radiotherapy neoadjuvant to surgery in patients suffering from glioblastoma in preclinical contexts.
3. Advancing Lung Cancer Screening: Artificial Intelligence, Multimodal Imaging and Cutting-Edge Technologies for Early Detection and Characterization
PI: Arturo Chiti
Aim: the project has to evaluate the potential added value of FDG PET/CT for the diagnosis of lung cancer in high-risk patients and to evaluate the role of low-dose CT. The project will also allow the development of a deep learning model, combining patient-specific data with image-derived morphological and metabolic characteristics to predict lung cancer risk.
4. Innovative therapeutic treatments to inhibit perineural invasion in pancreatic adenocarcinoma
PI: Massimo Falconi
Aim: the research aims to identify innovative therapeutic treatments able to inhibit perineural invasion through the use of organoids derived from patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma
5. Patient-derived organoids microfludic screenings to define treatments for metastatic colon cancer
PI: Luca Antonio Maria Aldrighetti
Aim: the research aims to project microfluidic screening of patient-derived organoids to define treatments for metastatic colon cancer
6. Decoding the inflammasome influence on treatment response in acute myeloid leukemia
PI: Rosa Alessandra Mortellaro
Aim: the project airm to examine in depth the role of the activation of the inflammasome in patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia through the investigation of its association with treatment response in specific AML risk categories.
Cardiology-Pulmonology
1. Technological and patient-tailored Innovations for Maximizing Effectiveness of Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation: the TIME-CARE project
Aim: the project has the goal of developing an artificial intelligence algorithm able to predict (in terms of minutes, hours, or days in advance) major cardiovascular events (e.g., myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest) through biosignals recorded by wearable devices in order to promptly alert individuals at risk; develop a smartphone app capable of geolocating available defibrillators and alerting nearby citizens to intervene as first responders in the event of cardiac arrest; identify and develop an algorithm for the optimal position on the chest of chest compressions and defibrillator pads in patients in cardiac arrest through the acquisition of chest computed tomography and transesophageal echocardiography scans.
2. The use of Landiolol in mitral valve sUrgery: a raNdomized, controlled, double-blind triAl. (LUNA)
PI: Fabrizio Monaco
Aim: the project seeks to evaluate the effect of intraoperative administration of landiolol before cardiopulmonary bypass, with the aim of reducing post-operative low cardiac output syndrome, to improve intraoperative myocardial protection,and to improve the quality of life of patients in the post-operative period. It is a multicentered, placebo-controlled randomized study.
3. Gender, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) in phenotypic and genetic characterization of Acute Coronary Syndromes: The prospective multidisciplinary multicenter GEDI-ACS registry
PI: Alaide Chieffo
Aim: the research consists in the creation of a multicenter prospective registry of women with acute coronary syndrome from different cultural and ethnic contexts
4. Advanced Mutidimensional and ultra high resolution computed tomography to Inspect Cardiopulmonary Involvement in progressive fibrosing Interstitial Lung Diseases (AMICI-ILD)
PI: Anna Palmisano
Aim: the project is aimed at improving the early recognition of cardiopulmonary damage through the development of a finalized computed tomography (CT) protocol.
Gastroenterology
1. Improving the unmet need of early diagnosis of cancer in Lynch syndrome carriers: the role of differential microRNAs expression patterns, exome analyses, immunological profiles and tumor type- specific intracellular bacteria.
Aim: the project aims to improve the early diagnosis of cancer in people with Lynch syndrome. More specifically the project will evaluate the presence of intratumoral cancer bacteria in Lynch Syndrome carriers with colorectal cancer compared to those without colorectal cancer
2. Relationships between intestinal ultrasound parameters and elastography measurements with histopathologic findings in a prospective cohort of patients with ulcerative colitis: Development of novel imaging and molecular biomarkers of fibrosis
Aim: the research aims to develop new investigation methods via imaging and molecular biomarkers in patients suffering from intestinal fibrosis
3. Spatially and temporally resolving predictive biomarkers of postoperative recurrence and complications in chronic intestinal inflammation
PI: Pierpaolo Sileri
Aim: the project has the aim to integrates, thanks to a model based on machine learning, the evidence of post-operative complications to determine the risk indices of recurrence in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. The project aims to reveal possible causes and to ideate predictive methods which could minimize post-operative complications.
4. Integration of multiomics markers for invasive IPMNs identification through the set-up of the INvasive Cyst bIomarkers detection (INCITE) consortium
PI: Stefano Crippa
Aim: integrates multi-omics markers, which combine biological data obtained from DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites, to identify invasive Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms (or IPMN), which represent an initial stage in the growth of pancreatic cancer. The study’s goal is also to establish the Invasive Cyst Biomarker Detection Consortium (INCITE), a research group that will include several Italian centers with the common objective of identifying the conditions of potentially malignant pancreatic early.
Nephrology-Urology
1. CAT-VHL - Exploring the role of Carbonic Anhydrase IX as diagnostic and Theranostic target in Von-Hippel Lindau disease
Aim: the project aims to use PET images with a radiopharmaceutical never-before used in Italy to locate and track every single tumor in the context of Von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL)
2. Multidisciplinary dissection of renal and metabolic effects of glyfozines on elderly patients: from molecular aspects to clinical indications
PI: Chiara Livia Saveria Lanzani
Aim: the project has the aim to investigate the renal and metabolic effects of glyphozilines, a new class of drugs, as an adjunctive therapy in elderly patients suffering from type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease. Clinical and biological data from 300 geriatric patients who started therapy with these molecules, both before and after the initial 6-month treatment, will be collected and analyzed.
Ophthalmology
1. A new diagnostic paradigm for retinitis pigmentosa secondary to USH2A pathogenic variants
Aim: the project focuses on a new diagnostic approach based on serum microRNA profiling in a group of patients affected by USH2A retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
2. Predicting the risk of diabetic neurodegenerative disorders by artifical intelligence tools based on retinal imaging-DINEURET
Aim: the research uses reliable artificial intelligence tools able to predict the risk of development and progression of neurodegenerative diabetic complications (e.g., mild cognitive impairment and dementia) based on retinal images in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Endocrinology
1. Neuroendocrine Regulation of Bone-Fat Crosstalk in Obesity
PI: Andrea Giustina
Aim: the project will investigate the correlations and the influences between the neuroendocrine-pituitary system, adipose tissue, and skeletal metabolism in obese patients and those affected by neurohormonal pathologies. The goal is to determine the neurohormonal mechanisms influencing the accumulation of adipose tissue and skeletal damage in order to identify new innovative therapeutic approaches.
Gynecology
1. Next-Generation Endometriosis Diagnostics through Comprehensive Multi-Dimensional Analysis
PI: Massimo Giovanni Piero Maria Candiani
Aim: the project is based on a multi-omics approach: genetics, epigenetics, and imaging factors are integrated in patients suffering from endometriosis and adenomyosis, to improve early diagnosis and optimize assisted reproduction treatments.
Psychiatry
1. A biological signature for the early differential diagnosis of psychosis: unveiling the differences between mood disorders and schizophrenia with multimodal machine learning techniques
Aim: the projects aims at revealing the differences between mood disorders and schizophrenia using multimodal machine learning techniques.
Rehabilitation
1. Multimodal prehabilitation in cancer surgery PROPOSE trial (PRehabilitation in Oncological Patients undergOing SurgEry)
Aim: the research aims to test the effectiveness of a personalized and multidisciplinary preoperative conditioning program to reduce serious complications and facilitate recovery after surgery in high-risk patients – “PROPOSE” study (PRehabilitation in Oncological Patients underOing SurgEry).