PADUA – Since 1971 the World Economic Forum (Wef) has brought together the major international exponents of politics and economics to discuss with journalists and intellectuals the most urgent issues that the world is facing in the future, including in matters of health and the environment, striving to have an impartial gaze free from political and ideological constraints. Well, Professor Emanuele Cozzi of the Department of Cardio-thoracic-vascular Sciences and Public Health of the University, delegate of the National Transplant Center at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, is the only professor in Italy directly included in the “Top 10 Emerging technologies of 2024”.
Organ transplants
The WEF 2024 has just drawn up the list of the 10 most important topics (Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2024) that in the next 3/5 years are destined to have a substantial weight for humanity and the development of technologies. Among these topics is the one called Genomics for transplants: organ transplants save lives, but the demand exceeds the pool of available donors. In the United States alone, more than 100,000 patients are waiting for an organ, yet only about 30,000 organs will be available this year. To meet this need, for more than three decades, constant progress has been made in the field of science with the transplantation of organs from animals into humans (particularly xenotransplantation). In fact, thanks to technology such as Crispr-cas9, it is now possible to create multiple genetic manipulations in a single pig to overcome the immunological problem. Just in March of this year, the first successful transplant of a non-human (pig) kidney into a living human was performed in Boston.
Emanuele Cozzi in the WEF
In the Wef 2024, precisely under the heading Genomics for transplants, the referent (together with Prof. David K Cooper of Harvard Medical School) the only researcher present from an Italian university among the excellences of the Wef is Professor Cozzi. «While research is a pillar conditioning all science at an international level, it is on the other hand necessary to take stock of the state of the art regarding animal-to-human transplants – explains Cozzi -. Despite the great progress made in recent years, xenotransplantation cannot replace organ donation from human beings today. The preclinical results are encouraging and undoubtedly show how xenotransplantation can increase the survival rate of the transplant recipient and at the same time improve their quality of life. Up to now the only animal-to-human transplants have been done in the USA and China. I hope that in a fairly short time they can also be done in Europe and, why not, in Italy. My personal contribution, also possible thanks to the support of the facilities in which I work, together with that of other researchers, is aimed above all at making xenotransplantation a reality in our country too”.
«The Department’s idea of ”calling” Prof Cozzi to be part of our teachers was born precisely from his great expertise in the field of transplant immunology, together with his studies on xenotransplantation carried out first in the United Kingdom and then in the States» explains Prof Federico Rea, director of the department of Cardio-thoracic-vascular Sciences and Public Health.
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