The Ph.D. Program in “Translational Medicine” is an innovative international, interdepartmental and interdisciplinary program aiming to provide a state-of-the-art didactic and research training to pursue an academic and clinical career with the ultimate goal of translating the basic biomedical research into clinical strategies.

Specific Program Objectives include:

• Provide in-depth mentoring to assure productive research training

• Provide research opportunities which enhance creative and global thinking in the design of research projects through a molecular genetic approach

• Teach fundamental theory and knowledge in the subject areas essential to clinical research

• Provide a critical environment fostering inquiry, integrity, teaching and communication skills, high productivity, and working in a multi-disciplinary environment.

Particular emphasis is placed on translational and interdisciplinary applications consistent with the development of experimental protocols in vivo and in vitro and animal models. These are engineered to provide adequate validation of new pathological markers of targeted therapeutical strategies in a broad spectrum of chronic degenerative diseases, in the area of oncology, neuroscience, and cardiovascular diseases.

The experimental models enable the design of preclinical and clinical studies on biomarkers of early-stage, drugs, and biomolecular systems able to promote a prompt and accurate diagnosis. In this context, the programming on technology advanced basis (self-factory, computational chemistry of new molecules) can be used as diagnostic and therapeutical clinical tools.

Departments: The Ph.D. program operates in the Department of Pharmacy and Health and Nutritional Science (DFSSN), awarded as “Department of Excellence” by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities, and Research (MIUR) over 2018-2022 in the medical area, in cooperation with the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies (CTC).

The Ph.D. program in “Translational Medicine”, which is planned throughout the 3-year, includes the following curricula:

• Molecular basis of diseases and pharmacological approaches for translational medicine;

• The design of innovative molecules for both diagnostic and clinical use.