Download Astori Center Brochure - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario

Contribution of the School of Graphic Arts “Andrea Fantoni” Bergamo
THE MARIO NEGRI
INSTITUTE
The Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research
is a private not-for-profit foundation that was established
in Milan in 1961 thanks to Mario Negri, a Milanese jeweler
and philanthropist, on the initiative of Prof. Silvio Garattini,
founder and current director of the Institute. The Institute’s
main aim is to contribute to health advocacy and human
life. It is always taking the patient’s side and completely
independent of industry, universities and government. It has
three locations: Milan, Bergamo and Ranica (BG), with about
800 employees. In early 2013, the Institute was recognized
by the Italian government as an IRCCS (Istituto di Ricovero
e Cura a Carattere Scientifico) a hospital and/or institution
that has demonstrated excellence in the organization and
management of health services and in the development and
implementation of biomedical research.
IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri
Anna Maria Astori Center
Kilometro Rosso Science and Technology Park
Via Stezzano, 87 - 24126 Bergamo, Italy
Tel: 0039-035-42131 - Fax: 0039-035-319331
[email protected]
http://negribergamo.marionegri.it/
www.marionegri.it
ANNA MARIA
ASTORI CENTER
ANNA MARIA
ASTORI CENTER
RESEARCH
ACTIVITIES
The Mario Negri Institute laboratories in Bergamo are
located in the Kilometro Rosso Science and Technology Park,
and are dedicated to Anna Maria Astori, the noblewoman
benefactress whose generous bequest allowed its
construction. The main research areas of the Anna Maria
Astori Center include kidney diseases and diabetes, organ
transplantation immunology, clinical pharmacology,
molecular and regenerative medicine, bioengineering, some
aspects of cancer metastasis, and rare diseases.
Molecular Medicine
Currently, the center employs around 100 people, and is fitted
out with the latest equipment and services such as electron
and confocal microscopy, sterilized rooms for cell cultures,
laboratories for studying cellular and molecular biology and
instruments for pharmacological dosing.
Besides the research activities, specific training programs
aimed at young graduates are active, through Ph.D. courses
and regional graduate courses.
Since the institute became active, in 1984, Mario Negri
Bergamo scientists have published more than 1.600 articles
in international scientific journals and have been invited to
give 1.900 lectures at international and national meetings.
Between graduate students, nurses and Ph.D. students,
educational programs have involved more than 600 young
people.
Understanding the mechanisms of injury that lead to loss
of kidney function;
Finding new drugs to prevent the progression of kidney
disease and to help the kidney to repair itself;
Understanding whether and how stem cells regenerate
kidney tissue damaged by disease;
Building kidney tissue in the laboratory using stem cells;
Understanding how changes in genes cause certain rare
diseases;
Inducing patients’ adult cells to become stem cells to
understand and, in the future, treat rare diseases.
Bioengineering
Developing 3D techniques for tissue analysis with a state
of the art microscope;
Understanding the role of blood flow in the development
of damage to blood vessel walls;
Developing tissue engineering techniques to obtain a
healthy organ in the laboratory starting with a sick one;
Experimenting with new techniques for the generation of
bioartificial tissues;
Evaluating the effect of pancreatic islet transplantation on
diabetes complications.
Oncology
Studying the blood vessels of tumors to develop new
drugs and improve the response to chemotherapy;
Searching for biomarkers for early diagnosis of cancer of
the pancreas.
MAIN RESULTS
Our studies conducted in recent years have made it possible
to slow down and sometimes even stop the progression of
renal disease with drugs that lower blood pressure and help
to restore or maintain the integrity of the renal filter.
However, since not all kidney diseases can be treated with
drugs, we want to be able to regenerate the diseased kidney
and to avoid patients having to resort to dialysis.
With our studies of regenerative medicine:
We have proved that in acute kidney disease kidney stem
cells repair the kidney;
We obtained a nephron (functional unit of the kidney) in the
laboratory, starting with embryonic stem cells;
We repopulated a kidney, previously deprived of its cells,
with stem cells.
Our research continues to confirm the promising results
obtained so far.
We are also able to identify blood flow conditions that
predispose to the development of blood vessel injury and
have developed a theoretical model of blood circulation on
the computer to plan vascular surgery.
We are also studying new drugs that act on the blood
vessels of tumors, thereby improving the effectiveness of
chemotherapy in ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer.