During this monitoring period, the work of Italian researchers and laboratories published in international scientific journals mostly centered on the fields of biology, genetics and oncology. Monitoring of the scientific press (including Science, The Lancet and various journals of the Nature publishing group) revealed that 95 studies conducted by Italian laboratories were published between the beginning of January and the end of February.
Of these, 12 concerned research in biology, with articles published in Cell Death & Disease, Nature Cell Biology and Molecular Therapy; 10 studies related to genetics, with articles appearing in Nature Genetics and Gene Therapy; and just as many dealt with cancer, with associated studies published in Leukemia, Oncogene and the British Journal of Cancer.
On the topic of oncology, several articles spoke of the work being carried out by a research group coordinated by Italian professor Antonio Iavarone at Columbia University in New York. Previously the subject of an interview Iavarone gave to the Aspen Italia website team (on September 11, 2012 – We’ve discovered the gene responsible for some brain tumors), recent press interest has focused on the team’s discovery of a “smart” cancer drug. The first human trials of the drug were described in the journal Clinical Cancer Research (January 21 – Detection, characterization and inhibition of FGFR-TACC fusions in IDH wild type glioma). This item was subsequently picked up by Italian news agencies such as Ansa (February 18: Primo test per la molecola ‘antidroga’ dei tumori – First trial for cancer “dependence inhibitor” molecule) and Adnkronos (February 17: “Un farmaco intelligente per il cancro al cervello”, il sogno di un italiano negli Usa – “A smart drug for brain cancer”: the dream of a Stateside Italian).
ARTICLES MONITORED: 95
ITALIAN RESEARCHERS: 482
ITALIAN RESEARCH CENTERS: 135