Minister Gaetano Manfredi visits theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and launches an invitation: "Scientific research should rediscover its social role, the common good of society"

Rome, 23 July 2020 – In the days in which Italian universities are preparing to start Phase 3 against Covid-19, the Minister of University and Research Gaetano Manfredi visited theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, welcomed by the president Felice Barela and by the rector Raffaele calabrò.

The visit was an opportunity to illustrate the educational solutions adopted by theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma aimed at guaranteeing the maximum safety for students allowing them to be able to live already from the recovery in September le face-to-face lessons integrated in a hybrid formula by the use of online platforms.

The day was also an opportunity to show the Minister some of the research activities conducted within the laboratories of the Trigoria Campus and for the signing of two agreements between Ucbm and INAIL and CNR.

During the day, the Minister got to know more closely the work conducted in the NEXT laboratories (Neurophysiology and Neuroengineering of Human-Technology Interaction), in those of Neurology, Orthopedics, Physiatry and Robotics. The visit continued at the Research Units of Biomedical Measurements and Instrumentation, Automation, Computer Science, Physics, Tissue Engineering and in the laboratories of the Departmental Faculty of Science and Technology for Man and the Environment, all involved in Italian and international projects.

I works presented to the Minister concern in particular the development of:

• a bidirectional control system for a bionic prosthetic hand;
• a prosthetic system with neural interfacing;
• prosthetic hands and low-cost exoskeletal robotic aids;
• an innovative treatment for the regeneration of the intervertebral disc;
• a one-health model for studying a pesticide exposure scenario;
• a bio-cooperative robotic system for upper limb rehabilitation with virtual reality technologies;
• a network of specialist cancer centers with the aim of identifying common practices, data collection methods and exposure risk management procedures;
• a wearable system that integrates physical and chemical sensors for risk prevention and mitigation in the workplace;
• a platform capable of increasing workers' awareness of occupational risks;
• a system capable of analyzing the causes, effects and characteristics of attacks on personnel in the transport sector.

"L 'Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma has shown that it has a great ability to network, with other universities but also with research centres - said University and Research Minister Gaetano Manfredi during his visit -  The experience we have had of Covid has taught us that this is a fundamental value, as is the ability to know how to combine specialist skills with traditional skills. The health crisis and its terrible implications have also made another reflection more urgent (in reality necessary already before the emergency), namely the opportunity to push the research system towards a reconfiguration of its objectives and tools, to broaden the effectiveness of its impact on society, the economy, communities and the country system as a whole. Scientific research will be rediscovered as a common good, widespread among society. In this sense, the projects launched to date by the Campus Bio-Medico in agreement with Inail and Cnr are the concrete demonstration of how much university and research can and must generate social repercussions".

“Minister Manfredi's visit comes at a crucial moment in the life of Italian universities – underlined the rector Raffaele calabrò - The coming months will be particularly challenging for a university like ours which strongly believes in the direct relationship between students and teachers and in teaching based on human relationships, the exchange of skills and direct experience in the hospital and in the laboratory. We are remodeling our spaces to guarantee the students of our 12 degree courses 70 percent face-to-face teaching and thanks to a specially designed shift schedule we will allow our students to continue their studies by following the lessons in the classroom, also using the distance learning and keeping the learning experience in the university campus facilities almost intact. This applies not only to future doctors but also to all students of the degree courses in Engineering and Science and Technology for Man and the Environment”.

In this sense, for the restart in phase 3, the University has decided to focus on new technologies for teaching, with the acquisition of hardware and software instruments for laboratory, classroom or training activities. For example, a powerful digital microscope will allow exercises involving the use of microscopy preparations to be carried out remotely in all degree courses and a digital anatomy table for the study and exercises of human anatomy.

Also expected kit for robotics activities, IoT devices for automation and safety tutorials, simulation software for electronic circuits, network devices for the study of computer networks, hours of computing in the cloud for AI tutorials as well as a software for simulating laboratory experiments in the chemical-biological, environmental and food technology areas.

After the meeting with the deans of the three faculties of Medicine and Surgery, Engineering and Science and Technology for Man and the Environment and the greetings of the presidents of the National Research Council, Massimo Inguscio and of INAIL, Franco Bettoni, Minister Manfredi attended the signing of two important documents: the agreement for new projects between Ucbm and the INAIL Prosthetics Center , CNR convention-UCBM for the new PhD course in Artificial Intelligence for Health and Life Sciences coordinated by theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma.