
The Department investigates acute brain and cardiovascular injury and its long-term evolution, with the goal of limiting lesion progression, preventing chronic consequences, and improving patient recovery.
Our research focuses on traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, stroke, epilepsy, post cardiac resuscitation brain injury, and cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction. These conditions can cause persistent neurological or cardiac impairment, significantly affecting autonomy and quality of life.
Studying the heart and brain together addresses two important challenges. Cardiac injury can have significant consequences for the brain, and although acute injuries in these two organs differ in many respects, they share key biological mechanisms, including inflammation, vascular dysfunction, and altered repair processes. Bringing together experts in these fields within a shared research environment enables common problems to be addressed from different perspectives and fosters therapeutic development.
To accelerate the development of neuroprotective and cardioprotective therapies and facilitate the translation of discoveries into clinical practice, the Department has established a Clinical Trial Research Hub that provides integrated support for clinical studies, from design and regulatory management to monitoring and data analysis.
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The aim of the Department is to develop preclinical models and foster the interaction between laboratory and clinical activities, to:
AI-driven High-density Electrophysiology for Advanced Drug Discovery (AHEAD)
Sponsor: RegioneLombardia – Bando Collabora e Innova
Research Area: Brain injury
Mesenchymal stromal cells for traumatic brain injury (MATRIX)
Sponsor: Fondazione Regionale Ricerca Biomedica (FRRB) – Bando Unmet Medical Needs
Research Area: Traumatic brain injury
Mesenchymal stromAl cells for Traumatic bRain Injury: The MATRIx study. A multicenter, double blind, randomized, placebo controlled, adaptive phase II dose finding study
Sponsor: Ministero della Salute – Bando di Ricerca Finalizzata
Research Area: Traumatic brain injury
Ficolin-2-dependent mechanisms of morpho-functional evolution of unstable atherosclerotic plaques (FUN AT PLAQUE)
Sponsor: Fondazione Regionale per la Ricerca Biomedica (FRRB), Regione Lombardia
Research Area: Cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis
Natural history of familial cerebral cavernous malformations: the CCM_Italia cohort study
Sponsor: Ministero della Salute – Bando PNRR 2023
Research Area: Rare diseases
The Research Center for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS Center) brings together the groups that are involved in ALS research from an epidemiological, preclinicaland translational point of view.
The Center for PRECLINICAL TOXICOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY includes research groups within the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology that have consolidated biochemical and toxicological skills.
The center promotes and facilitates interdisciplinary scientific research for health and for the environment using mass spectrometry-based technologies.