San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Foundation
Research
The San Raffaele Institute was established in 1971 and represented one
of the first examples of a fully independent private hospital in Italy.
Shortly thereafter, the San Raffaele became a sponsoring establishment of
the State University of Milan Medical School, and was granted the status
of IRCCS, making the hospital a site for clinical research of national interest.
As such, the Institute was originally specialized in diabetes and metabolic
disorders. In 1992 the San Raffaele expanded further by creating the DIBIT
(Department of Biological and Technological Research), a basic science institute
with a dedicated research space of about 12,000 square meters, which nowadays
employs 270 people, including scientists, technicians and administrative
personnel, along with more than 100 fellows, trainees and graduate students.
DIBIT is part of the largest biomedical science park in Italy, which includes
the San Raffaele Hospital with 1036 beds, the
Science Park Raf created to support the
Foundation's development objectives, and the University. The
University Vita-Salute San Raffaele started
its operations in 1996 with a degree course in
Psychology, followed
by the new Faculty of Medicine
and Surgery in 1998, and a University Course in Biotechnology, University
Courses in Nursing and in Physiotherapy, and the new
Faculty of Philosophy
in Cesano Maderno in 2002.
The teaching activities also include an international Ph.D. program in Cellular
and Molecular Biology, co-sponsored by the Open University of London and
the Vita-Salute university San Raffaele, and the more recent International
Ph.D. Program in Molecular Medicine.
Much effort and many resources have been invested in basic preclinical
and clinical research. The Institute's scientific production experienced
quite an impressive progress as regards both the number of publications
and the overall quality. In 2002, 537 scientific papers were published,
with a total impact factor of 2504. These figures confirm the Institute's
leading position in the country and contributed to a significant increase
in the extramural financial support, provided by various public and private
sources. In 2000, the San Raffaele Institute has invested in research a
budget of ITL 50 billions. Italian public sources (Ministry of Health, Superior
Institute of Health, Ministry of Education, University and Research, and
CNR), and the European Community funded roughly 50% of such amount. The
remaining 50% is funded by grants provided by private charities, including
Telethon and the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC). Telethon
has funded two research centers at San Raffaele: the San Raffaele-Telethon
Institute for Gene Therapy (HSR-TIGET) which is pioneering the clinical
application of gene transfer technology and the Stem Cell Research Institute
(SCRI), which studies the biology and the potential clinical applications
of stem cells: a field in which San Raffaele Institute is one of the leaders
in the world.
Diabetes and metabolic disorders and biomedical technologies have been the
historical areas of the San Raffaele's scientific leadership. In the last
years biomedical technologies have undergone an impressive development and
diversification, opening the doors to a rapid evolution of clinical medicine:
into "molecular medicine". The complete sequencing of the human genome has
radically modified the scientific scenario. In the years to come, researchers'
efforts will be dedicated to the elucidation of the mechanisms of regulation
and expression of genes and the functional characterization of their products,
the identification of pre-symptomatic diagnostic tools and the design of
appropriated therapeutical approaches. The Scientific Institute San Raffaele
claims the merit of having interpreted from the beginning this novel approach
to medicine, in which basic and clinical researchers and physicians operate
side by side, with the goal of improving the translation of basic research
into medical practice. The need to combine basic and clinical research has
prompted the reorganization of the Institute in Biomedical Departments,
which include research programs of strategic institutional interest.
Claudio Bordignon, Scientific Director
Contents
Edited by Giovanna Stancanelli and Aldo Campana,