ICGEB, CNR and Area Science Park work together on SARS-CoV-2 virus research.
New collaborative research project on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants, funded by the Italian Ministry of Health through the National Institute of Health
- Progetti e attività
The research project, “Impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on genome integrity and their involvement in inflammation and neuropathogenesis” – led by the virology lab at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in collaboration with the CNR’s Institute of Molecular Genetics, the IFOM and the Technological Innovation Research Institute at Area Science Park (Trieste) – was among the successful proposals for the call to support research projects within the framework of the “Italian network for virological surveillance, immunological monitoring, training and research in preparation for managing infectious emergencies (R.I.Pr.E.I.)” funded by the Italian Ministry of Health through the National Institute of Health.
The purpose of the call is to learn more about SARS-CoV-2, starting with identifying the characteristics of its variants, how they spread and their pathogenicity, through to identifying innovative strategies for diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
Alessandro Marcello explains: “taking our cue from earlier work, in which we discovered how the virus is able to damage cellular DNA by activating pro-inflammatory mechanisms and cellular senescence, we now want to study the impact of newer variants of the virus, especially in the context of neuroinflammation”. New knowledge about the long-term consequences of the infection are expected to emerge from this research, in the hope of testing new effective treatments.
Synergies with the CNR/IFOM to study DNA damage and repair mechanisms, and with Area Science Park to study variants by combining molecular virology, artificial intelligence and genomics, will be decisive for the project’s success.