MUR Department of excellence 2023-2027
The Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences has been recognized as Department of Excellence and has received special funding from the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) for the five-year period 2023-2027, with the aim of strengthening and enhancing research excellence, with investments in human capital, infrastructure and highly qualified educational activities.
Project and objectives
PROJECT PUZZLE
Patients affected by chronic pathologies frequently present with multimorbidity (or co-morbidity), a condition characterized by the concomitant occurrence of two or more diseases. Since it significantly impacts on both patient quality of life and public health, multimorbidity represents one of the most important medical challenges. Indeed, patients with multimorbidity are very complex in terms of disease prevention and clinical management, making insufficient the usual pattern of research in pathology and revealing the urgent need of a new, holistic approach to such complexity.
The project PUZZLE (Integrated approach to multimorbidity: basic, translational and clinical research and multidisciplinary education) will fulfil this need. Its main objective is to turn the highly interdisciplinar Department of Clinical and Biological Science into a national and international reference center for the research on, and the management of, multimorbidity.
Taking advantage of clinical and epidemiological data sets, PUZZLE will provide a new integrated model useful for studying, managing and curing patients with multimorbidity. The additional novelty is that this model will be suitable to adapt to different groups of diseases. Fundamental to the model construction will be: i) the creation of a certified biobank; ii) the equipment of a laboratory dedicated to metabolomic and proteomic analysis. Along these lines, the model will be enriched by taking into consideration the biological mechanisms underlying the complexity of multimorbidity and the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The model will then be tested on selected patient populations, such as those with rheumatologic or neprhologic disease, with the final aim to generate innovative public health policies.
The results obtained by PUZZLE will be instrumental to improve the education (Master degrees, Specialty Schools, PhD) activity of the Department, in addition to develop public engagement actions involving different stakeholders, such as the production of a MOOC dealing with multimorbidity.