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It is considered the Italian model of the European ERC (European Research Council) call which supports cutting-edge research projects.
The Italian Science Fund (Fis) was launched for the first time in 2021. Of the approximately two thousand projects, 47 were judged worthy of the award. Among these, two belong to professors from the University of Trento, who will thus be able to give substance to their scientific proposals thanks to the almost 2.5 million euros provided by the Ministry.
As in the case of the Ercthe proposals are chosen based on the criterion of scientific excellence in all disciplines, from mathematical, physical and natural sciences to engineering and humanities.
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After a long selection and evaluation phase that started a year and a half agothe assigned funding has been formalized in recent days.
Those who obtained the contribution were, in the Starting grant category Moritz Wurm, researcher at the Interdepartmental Mind/Brain Center (Cimec) and in the Advanced grant category Anna Cereseto, professor of the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology – Cibio.
Dynamo. The project of researcher Moritz Wurm develops in the field of neuroscience. The aim is to understand how the representation of dynamic events occurs in the human brain. Specifically how depictions change during each time point of an ongoing event.
The study uses a new research method defined as “dynamic representation similarity analysis” (dRsa). This method allows us to understand how the brain builds a dynamic model of the reality around us, which can also help to better understand mental disorders that are thought to be due to a disorder of predictive mechanisms, such as autism.
MyBet. The study by Anna Cereseto, professor of Molecular Biology at the Cibio Department, falls within the trend of genomic editing techniques, to which the scholar has dedicated herself for years. A field of research aimed at developing therapies for genetic diseases.
The goal of the project is to optimize the current Crispr-Cas9 system, the molecular scissors capable of cutting or modifying harmful parts of DNA. Discover new, smaller proteins and then adapt them to humans.
In perspectivethe intention is to be able to reach the central nervous system, still difficult to reach today. A step that could open new avenues for the treatment of serious diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy (Sma).
The name of the Project, which literally translated it means “my bet”, it is the acronym for “Microbiome yielded biotechnological evolution-based therapies”.
Italian Science Fund (Fis). The Italian Science Fund (Fis) supports the development of fundamental research activities conducted by emerging and established scholars in three scientific-disciplinary macro-sectors determined by the ERC (European Research Council): social sciences and humanities; mathematics, physical sciences, information and communication, engineering, earth and universe sciences; life sciences.
Two categories are foreseen: Starting grant (for emerging researchers who have obtained the PhD title no less than 2 and no more than 10 years ago at the date of publication of the announcement) and Advanced grant (for established, scientifically independent, active male and female scholars in research for a period of more than ten years, leader in the research sector in which the project proposal is located).
50 million of funds allocated on the plate, of which 20 are intended for financing Starting projects and 30 for Advanced ones. The call finances fundamental research projects with a maximum duration of 5 years.
The first edition of the FIS was presented in 2021. In total 1,912 proposals arrived. Of these, 47 were admitted to funding, selected by a team of 650 reviewers, at the end of a complex evaluation process. The second edition was launched in 2023.
Interviews with the two researchers Mortiz Wurm and Anna Cereseto in the UniTrentoMag magazine.
