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The UNESCO Chair in Interdisciplinary Biotechnology is part of the UNITWIN/Chairs
UNESCO program that was launched in 1991. The member States chose to set
up an effective tool aimed to stimulate the transfer and exchange of experience
and reinforce the connection between higher education institutions for the
advancement of knowledge and the application of this knowledge in developmental
problems. A further aim was to promote equal sharing of knowledge and skills
and to represent a promise for sustainable human development and a pace
forward to advanced consciousness and understanding of culture.
The establishment of the UNESCO Chair in Interdisciplinary Biotechnology
is the new initiative of UNESCO in agreement with the University of Rome
“Tor Vergata”.
The Chair is associated during the academic year 1998/1999 with the Department
of Biology, Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, headed by Professor Vittorio
Colizzi. More specifically, the following tasks of the Chair were defined:
• organisation of the course on “Immunotechnology in Biology and Medicine”
• research activities related to the fundamental interdisciplinary problems
of biotechnology.
The appointment as the first chair co-holder has been given to Professor
Marek Zembala, Department of Clinical Immunology, Jagiellonian University
Medical
College in Cracow. Dr. E. Carnieri, Dr. M. Mattei, and Dr. P. Piselli from
the group of Professor Colizzi supported the activities of the chair. Furthermore,
Professor G.
Lauro (Dept. of Biology, University of Rome III) and Professor A. Salerno
(Dept. of Medicine, University of Palermo and Campus Biomedico) took part
in the teaching
activities.
The course entitled “Immunotechnology in Biology and Medicine” was open
to students of the Faculties of Medicine and Science of all Universities
of Rome and has been run during the second semester of the academic year
1997/98. The official language was English, with introduction and summary
additionally in Italianlanguage. The course was designed to give updated
information on the recent advances in immuno- and bio-technologies applicable
to research and medicine,
with particular attention to future directions. It covered the application
of modern immunotechnologies in the three broad fields of cancer, inflammation
and infection,
and the possible outcome for diagnosis, prophylaxis and treatment of human
diseases as well as biomedical and pharmaceutical research. Detailed practical
information was provided at the end of the course on the use of certain
specific techniques, e.g. in the characterisation of cells by phenotyping,
sorting, purging,
isolation and other. The students were also provided with textbooks containing
summaries of the lectures and abstracts of important points. The overall
assessment of the course was positive, the choice of topics and the level
of the course was judged good to excellent, and quality of teaching was
assessed very favorably.
However, critics have been made by some participants judging the level to
be too high, and some students complained about the difficulties in understanding
details because of their limited knowledge of English. Interestingly, all
students indicated the requirement for an introduction of basic immunological
mechanisms as preparation for the course or at its beginning, and all of
them considered the course to be useful since it gave them a better understanding
of the progress in immunotechnology.
The appointment
for the 1999/2000 has been given to Prof. C.D.Pauza and Prof.M Malkovsky
Upon decision of the Rector of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, the
Chair was associated during the academic year 1999/2000 with International
Centre for AIDS and Emerging & Re-emerging Infections (ICAERI) at
the IRCCS L.Spallanzani in Rome directed by Professor Vittorio Colizzi.
More specifically, the following tasks of the Chair were defined: organisation
of the course on Scientific Management Styles and Outcome Measure in Biomedical
Research. The chairholder has been given to Professor C.D. Pauza, Ph.D,
Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, USA. Moreover, Dr.
F.Martini, Dr. M. Mattei, and Dr. F.Poccia from the group of Professor
Colizzi supported the activities of the Chair. The official language was
English, with introduction and summary additionally in Italian language.
The main objectives of the UNESCO Course on Scientific Management included:
• Orientation
•Introduction
to Strategic Planning
•S.W.O.T. analysis
exercise
•Annual Operating plan and performance evaluation
• Writing a strategic plan for the Infectious diseases Institute
• Technology transfer, conflict of interest, patent and licensing development
Upon decision of the Rector of the University, the second part of the
Chair was also associated during the academic year 1999/2000 with International
Centre for AIDS and Emerging & Re-emerging Infections (ICAERI) at
the IRCCS L.Spallanzani in Rome. The chairholder was Professor Prof. M.
Malkovsky, M.D., PhD, FRCPath Professor of Immunology, Medical School
University of Wisconsin, USA, Dr. F.Poccia from the group of Professor
Colizzi supported the activities of the Chair. The official language was
English, with introduction and summary additionally in Italian language.
The UNESCO Advanced Course in Immunology of Infectious Diseases was taught
by Prof. Malkovsky and the main objectives of the course included:
1. Discussing the state-of-the-art basic and applied knowledge of cellular
and molecular immunology and pathogenic and protective mechanisms in various
infectious diseases.
2. Learning to apply the new concepts and technology to the diagnosis,
prevention and therapy of infectious diseases.
3. Promoting the view that strong links between basic sciences, clinical
diagnosing and therapies of infectious diseases are essential for improving
public health.
The target audience included (but was not limited to):
1. MDs, PhDs and other postdoctoral scientists, who wished to develop
new career objectives in the field of infectious diseases.
2. PhD students and other predoctoral scientists interested in immunology.
3. Scientists seeking a better understanding of basic and applied immunology.
4. Researchers interested in different views on how to conduct research.
The course was divided into four naturally-overlapping and each-other-complementing
sections:
Section 1 - How to select research problems
I: Basic cellular and molecular mechanisms
II: Activation versus tolerance
oAntigen presentation and memory cells
oActivation, anergy, immunological tolerance, ignorance, hypo- and unresponsiveness
oTCRs, accessory and co-stimulatory molecules
Section 2 - How to select research problems
III: Immunopathogenesis
oPathogenic insults due to acute infections.
oPathogenic insults due to chronic infection.
oImmunopathogenesis of HIV/SIV infections
The appointment for the 2000/2001 has been given to Dr. Josefina Calvo
Quintana. Instituto de Materiales y Reactivos, Grupo de Sensores y biosensores,
Universitad de la Habana, Cuba.
This grup developed deep knowledges in the field of biosensors.
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