Health: Technology transfer platform for the Italian biotech companies
7/6/2018
New genetic disease investigation techniques, personalized diets for the prevention of risk factors such as cholesterolemia, and diagnostic systems for an early recognition and targeted treatment of hospital infections. These are the three lines of research for the services provided by the innovative BIOSERVICE Platform for biotech companies in the Lazio Region. Created by the In.Bio Consortium - which brings together ENEA and the company CRS - with the contribution of the regional administration and Lazio Innova, the online platform aims at supporting, through technology transfer, one of the most innovative economic districts, notably the Rome province, which stands out for a biomedical center of national and international importance.
"Thanks to the BIOSERVICE platform - Sergio Lucretti at the ENEA Biotechnology Laboratory, coordinator of the project for the scientific activities of ENEA, explained - we make available our research infrastructures and scientific expertise to companies, hospitals, local administrations and, in general, to the entire region with the aim of supporting a sector, such as that of biosciences, very competitive and with a strong demand for innovation ".
For the BIOSERVICE project, ENEA has developed three lines of research for human health and wellbeing (CITOFLOW, CUORESANO and MICROMAKERS) and has worked, in collaboration with the CRS Company, on the transfer of technologies from the laboratory to the companies of the Lazio region. In particular, the Agency has focussed on innovative research activities with very concrete medium-term objectives, such as: simplifying, speeding up and reducing costs for the production of tests on human cancer tissues; developing strategies to prevent situations leading to heart disease; develop molecular diagnostic systems to identify genes and proteins related to antibiotic resistance in hospital bacterial strains.
The experiments conducted by the ENEA researchers have allowed to achieve significant results for each single line of research: for 'CITOFLOW', the development of new methods of manipulation of human cells for the verification of chromosomal alterations related to tumors (Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia - LLC); for 'CUORESANO', the innovative use of the 'Tonda Gentile' hazelnut, a typical Lazio variety, as a functional food able to influence the level of cholesterol in the blood, with a reduction of the LDL, guilty of favoring the onset of coronary pathologies in humans; for 'MICROMAKERS', the identification of 109 new bacterial protein characteristics related to antibiotic resistance phenomena in the hospital (of which 35, identified by mass spectrometric analysis, of particular interest both as diagnostic and therapeutic targets) .
"The online platform BIOSERVICE, developed by the CRS Company, will have a significant impact not only in generating new knowledge and patents - Sergio Lucretti concluded- but also in stimulating biotech SMEs to innovation, provided that scientific research continues to have support and diffusion. All this is part of the strategic role of ENEA as a link among research, business and territory and in the development plans of the Lazio region for advanced services and innovative activities in support to the regional economic system ".
For more information please contact
Sergio Lucretti, ENEA – Biotechnologies Laboratory, sergio.lucretti@enea.it