Cutting-edge research on intestinal diseases: a €2 million ERC grant from the EU for Alessio Gizzi, an under-40 researcher from the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome.

The Engineer of the Nonlinear Physics and Mathematical Models Unit is one of the 29 Italian winners. He will lead the MiGEM project for 5 years. Collaboration between UCBM and the Gastrointestinal Motility group at the University of Auckland 

Rome, 4 December 2024 - A 2 million euro financing to better understand the mechanisms of some important gastrointestinal diseases.European Research Council has awarded for project “Modelling Inter-Scale Energetics in GastroIntestinal ElectroMechanics” (MiGEM) Alessio Gizzi, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Engineering of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma with a ERC Consolidator, the most prestigious European recognition for research awarded directly to a scientist.  

Not yet 40 years old Alessio Gizzi, the only researcher from a Roman university among the 2024 winners, obtained at the end of November theERC Consolidator 2024 along with others 28 Italian scientists out of a total of 328 scientists across Europe, selected from among the more than 2300 questions submitted last year. 

"The ERC Consolidator Call - explains the Rector, Eugenio Guglielmelli - supports the growth of top talent in the most challenging phase of their career. We are proud to have a young scientist among our academic staff capable of achieving such a prestigious result, which will undoubtedly generate new growth opportunities for our University in the field of medical physics. The few researchers who manage to access this funding are considered among the top scientists in Europe. It will be a pleasure to support, with the highest priority, the implementation of this project and the valorization of all new knowledge for innovation and social impact. 

In the next five years Alessio Gizzi will lead the border project MiGEM which aims at a greater knowledge of gastrointestinal pathologies such as dysrhythmias, gastroparesis and paralytic ileus (which affect more than 60% of the adult population) with the ultimate goal of understanding the causes that generate these disorders and identifying more effective therapeutic strategies than current ones.  

The project will involve the development of theoretical-computational digital models based on innovative experiments capable of measuring for the first time in the world the heat generated by the gastrointestinal wall and mapping its movement. MiGEM looks at gastrointestinal pathologies from the perspective of prevent them by identifying therapeutic strategies in silico through the optimization of existing devices, their efficiency or better use, or by proposing new therapeutic strategies not yet present. 

Student UCBM, All 'Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma Alessio Gizzi is part ofResearch Unit of Nonlinear Physics and Mathematical Models led by the professor Simonetta Filippi, vice-rector and full professor of Theoretical Physics who commented: "Our research unit has always had an interdisciplinary and international vocation. These are the key factors that over time have allowed Gizzi, whom I warmly congratulate, to build an independent resume and scientific experience worthy of the competition among European scientists." 

Consolidator Grants are one of the measures implemented by Horizon Europe to support frontier research. The call is aimed at researchers with 7-12 years of experience after obtaining a PhD, with an excellent scientific curriculum and extensive international experience.