The institution
The University of Pavia, founded in 1361, is one of the world’s oldest academic institutions. Today almost 24,000 students, from both Italy and overseas, study at our University. Pavia, as a city-campus, offers students a unique experience in Italy and rare in Europe: to stay at one of 20 University colleges. Pavia is a city in northern Italy with 70,000 inhabitants located 30 km south of Milan, connected by regional and suburban trains every 10 minutes. Life in Pavia is both pleasant and affordable, particularly in comparison with much higher housing and living costs in Milan and other urban centres in Lombardy. Pavia’s campus offers a unique university experience to students who can enjoy countless events, festivals, exhibitions, concerts and sport activities, at all levels.
The program
The PhD course in Translational Medicine was created in 2016, building on the unprecedented progress that has taken place over the last few decades in the field of biological and medical sciences. The course is open to graduates in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Engineering who wish to undertake research in Molecular Medicine, as well as to graduates in Medicine who wish to pursue a career as clinical scientists. Besides local faculty, the course has strong and direct links with scientists at prestigious research Institutes located in Italy and abroad.
This PhD course will offer projects in the areas of genomics, proteomics, biomarkers, protein structure, molecular engineering and new biologics (antibodies and enzymes), and regenerative medicine (stem cell models, tissue engineering and regeneration), with the aim to study rare genetic diseases, infectious diseases, diseases of tissue / organ / system (blood, muscle / skeletal, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular) and cancer.
Students will gain access to well-equipped laboratories with access to next generation sequencing technologies for genomic and transcriptomic studies, mass spectrometry, a sophisticated cell imaging facility (including two confocal microscopes, a light sheet microscope, a super-resolution microscope), and a new high-speed cell sorting station, incubators and fermenters for the expression of heterologous proteins, advanced chromatography systems and instrumentation for physico-chemical analysis of molecular interactions. They will also gain access to equipment for projects in the area of protein structure and engineering, namely crystallization robotics, high-field (700 MHz) NMR spectrometry, cryo-electron microscopy and mass spectrometry.
Enquiries at translationalmedicine.phd@unipv.it
Coordinator of the PhD program: Prof. Roberto Bottinelli