Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Unimore part of the IM2PACT European project for studies on blood-brain barrier crossing

A five-year project named “ Investigating Mechanisms and Models Predictive of Accessibility of Therapeutics (IM2PACT) Into the Brain ”, which sees the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia also involved, aims to promote studies for blood-brain crossing in order to find innovative delivery systems for transporting biopharmaceuticals to the brain (peptides, antibodies, etc..), and to identify new pharmacological targets for the treatment of the Alzheimer disease, Multiple Sclerosis and metabolic diseases.

The initiative has been funded with about 18 million Euros and belongs to the activities of < Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 >(IMI2), a public and private consortium sponsored by the European union (EU) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Association (EFPIA), which - within the context of the European framework for research and innovation - finances studies in biomedical and therapeutic areas, through the collaboration between biopharmaceutical companies and regulation entities, universities and patients’ associations.

Coordinated by the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), the project is based on the cooperation among 28 different partners belonging to 15 different European countries, including Unimore, the university of Uppsala (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Heidelberg (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Cardiff (UK), etc... and world leading pharmaceutical industries such as Pfizer, Sanofi, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Janssen. 

In particular, the group of researchers of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, made of professor Giovanni Tosi, Barbara Ruozi, Flavio Forni and Maria Angela Vandelli of the Department of Life Sciences, will have the task to study the development of delivery alternative strategies through the laboratory of Nanomedicine (NanoTech, TeFarTI), which for years now has been dealing with delivery and direction of drugs to the Central Nervous System.

This participation is also part of the strategies for University internationalisation for the development of international networks, also through the platform of Nanomedicine that has been active for nearly one year in our University.

“I am undoubtedly very happy with this result - the project coordinator and scientific project head of the Unimore Nanomedicine platform, professor Giovanni Tosi, declares - which awards the effort of all of us, researchers of Te.Far.T.I., as well as the research of Nanomedicine of our University. The participation in the project will also expand the possibilities of collaboration for the UNIMORE network within the university and industrial international scenario, in the field of pathologies of Central Nervous System, such as the Alzheimer disease”.

Giovanni Tosi

Born in Bologna in 1977, Giovanni Tosi graduated in 2002 obtaining the Master Degree in Chemistry. In 2005, he obtained the PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Unimore. During the same year he became a university researcher in Pharmaceutical Technology at Unimore, and in 2015 began his career as an associate professor, obtaining the national scientific qualification of full professor in 2017. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 publications on international journals, and has submitted over 200 communications (oral, upon invitation or posters) to international and national congresses. His works in nanomedicine for directing drugs to the Central Nervous System have received many national and international prizes and awards. A Principal Investigator od research programmes, mainly focused on the application of nanomedicine to neurodegenerative and neurometabolic disorders and sponsored by Italian and International Agencies for Research, and European Associations (Malattia Rara, Huntington Diseases), in collaboration with a wide network of Italian and foreign scientists. He is a referee for international magazines of nanotechnology and nanomedicine. He is also a member of the Unimore Research Commission, and scientific delegate for Unimore within the European Technologic Platform for Nanomedicine. The research activity is based on developing lipid and polymeric systems for drug targeting to tissues or ill cells, focusing on how to direct drugs to the Central Nervous System by using nanoparticle carriers.

Categorie: International - english