Collaborative Research Laboratories

Collaborative Research Laboratories (CoReLabs)

EBRI has stipulated with various Institutes specific collaboration agreements to develop research lines (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa) and joint laboratories ((Sapienza University of Roma, Department of Human Neuroscience, Paediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù in Rome, CNR Nanotec Institute in Lecce) which, drawing upon existing personnel, expertise and instruments, foster strategic research in the neurosciences, including clinical research.

Scuola Normale Superiore

EBRI has establish a strategic collaboration with the Scuola Normale Superiore, specifically with the Bio@SNS laboratory, directed by Antonino Cattaneo, on the following projects:

  1. i) Painless NGF: toward clinical applications in humans with Alzheimer’s disease (with Simona Capsoni; Francesca Malerba and Silvia Marinelli;
  2. ii) Towards a new generation of analgesic drugs: epigenetic mechanisms in long-term analgesia induced by anti-TrkA and anti-NGF antibodies in chronic pain models (with MaraD’onofrio and Ivan Arisi;

iii) proNGF: a novel biomarker for neurodegeneration in cerebrospinal fluid (with Francesca Malerba);

  1. iv) scFv A13 antibody against Aβ oligomers in Alzheimer’s disease. Humanization of the recombinant A13 antibody and its use for gene therapy for Alzheimer’s disease (with Raffaella Scardigli and Giovanni Meli);
  2. v) Recombinant antibody libraries and selection of intrabodies directed against post-translational modification of proteins (in collaboration with the intrabody group at Bio@SNS (Simonetta Lisi) and Francesca Malerba).

Paediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù

In the framework of a collaboration agreement between the Paediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù (OPBG) and EBRI, a joint laboratory has been established at the S. Paolo OPBG premises. The EBRI-OPBG joint laboratory, which was made possible also thanks to a donation from the Sacchetti Foundation, is dedicated to the electrophysiological recordings from single cells or neuronal populations in organotypic slices of human brain tissue. This is an innovative technique that allows to keep alive for several weeks slices of brain tissue taken during neurosurgery, carried out for therapeutic purposes in paediatric patients suffering from drug-resistant focal epilepsies. The research aims to understand the mechanisms underlying the different forms of epilepsy and to discover new therapeutic targets. This joint laboratory is part of a broader collaboration between EBRI and OPBG, which focuses on neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and rare genetic diseases.

Sapienza University of Roma, Department of Human Neuroscience

EBRI and the Department of Human Neuroscience at the Sapienza University in Rome (Directed by Alfredo Berardelli) have established a joint research and diagnostics Laboratory in neurodegenerative diseases. EBRI researcher will be responsible for the analysis of validated biomarkers, as well as the identification of new biomarkers as potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets. The experimental activities will be integrated with the clinical research conducted at the Department of Neuroscience, in order to ensure a more accurate and early differential diagnosis with the perspective of a Precision Medicine.

Tecnomed Puglia

EBRI is a partner in the Tecnomed Puglia five-year project, in collaboration with the Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (University of Bari/Hospital Cardinale Panico Tricase), and the CNR Nanotec Institute in Lecce. In the framework of this project, an EBRI-CNR joint laboratory is projected at the Ecotekne Campus in Lecce, where new methods to measure diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases will be developed, using antibody platforms (EBRI) and nanotechnologies (CNR Nanotec).