The University of Trieste is approaching the end of the year with a result that places it among the small group of Italy’s highest-performing universities: it has been positioned in the top tier of periodic accreditation, receiving a “Fully Satisfactory” institutional judgement from the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System (ANVUR).

In the assessments available to date, the highest judgement has been awarded by ANVUR to only four other Italian universities out of 33 evaluated: University of Pavia, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UniMoRe), Politecnico di Torino, and Bocconi University.

“I am very proud to share this outcome: UniTS has been placed in the highest evaluation band. It is a third-party, objective assessment that considers the full scope of our activities: teaching, research, public and social engagement, healthcare-related clinical activities, resources and services. It recognises the quality of teamwork that has involved our entire university community,” said Rector Donata Vianelli.

In the Agency’s final report, the University of Trieste achieved the top rating in 86.7% of the focus points (20 out of 23), compared with a maximum of 78.3% (18 out of 23) recorded so far by other universities placed in the same band.

What periodic accreditation is

Periodic accreditation is the assessment through which ANVUR evaluates, at regular intervals, the overall quality of a university: not only outcomes, but also the processes, procedures and organisation that underpin education, research and third mission/social impact activities, together with resource management and services.

Recognised strengths

The report and the good practices highlighted during the accreditation process point to several distinctive elements. Among the most significant is internationalisation, starting with the substantial share of students from abroad (8% of total enrolments in bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes in academic year 2024/25, one of the highest figures in Italy), and extending to the educational offer that includes double degrees and joint degrees through agreements with European universities. The evaluation also highlights the active involvement of students in decision-making processes and in the quality assurance system, alongside the recognised contribution of technical and administrative staff.

In addition, the Agency notes the University’s commitment to teaching innovation, including through the Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC), and the strengthening of technological equipment in classrooms. In research, UniTS has introduced dedicated support for newly hired researchers: a €10,000 starting grant for those who do not have their own funding.

The evaluation process

The assessment consisted of document analysis and an on-site visit carried out by an Evaluation Experts Committee (CEV) appointed by ANVUR and composed of academics and students. Degree programmes and doctoral programmes were initially reviewed remotely from 5–7 May 2025; the Committee then visited the University from 20 to 23 May 2025 to extend its assessment.

The evaluation covered the University as a whole, a sample of 3 departments (Mathematics, Informatics and Geosciences; Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences; Humanities), 10 first- and second-cycle degree programmes (International Economics and Financial Markets, Physics, Geology, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Law, Medicine and Surgery, Pharmacy, Diplomacy and International Cooperation – Master’s, Computer Engineering – Master’s, Neurosciences – Master’s), and 3 doctoral programmes (Personalised Medicine and Innovative Therapies; Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics and Mathematics. Interactions and Methods; Historical, Philosophical and Political-Social Studies).

A path of continuous excellence

Rector Vianelli emphasised the collective nature of this outstanding result and expressed particular thanks to emeritus Rector Roberto Di Lenarda, under whose leadership the evaluation took place, to his governance team—“first and foremost Prof. Gianpiero Adami”—and to the Quality and Strategic Support Staff Unit, which supported the University throughout this phase.

“This excellence judgement,” Vianelli noted, “certifies the robustness of the processes through which UniTS plans, delivers and continuously improves its institutional activities. It strengthens the University of Trieste’s ability to be a reference point for educating students—who in Italy achieve the highest employment rates—for research that is delivering internationally outstanding results, and for social impact through an ongoing dialogue with all local stakeholders, particularly companies, businesses, bodies and institutions. Moreover, success in European calls guarantees the continuous innovation of our infrastructures.

“We are very satisfied with the ANVUR judgement,” concluded Vianelli, who has led the University since 1 August. “In Olympic terms, I would say we have won our gold medal”.

After 15 years of research, including three dedicated to the collection of non-profit funding, the MirtaRett project coordinated by Enrico Tongiorgi (UniTS Department of Life Sciences), finally enters clinical practice with the administration of the first therapy to a young patient at the Gaslini Hospital in Genoa.

In February 2025, the Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency (AIFA) received the positive opinion of the National Ethics Committee for Paediatric Studies and thus gave the green light to the first worldwide trial on Mirtazapine in Rett Syndrome, a serious neurological disease that affects almost exclusively girls.

The clinical study, coordinated by the University of Trieste, will initially extend to 15 young patients and will take place in the main Italian reference hospitals for Rett Syndrome. The trial is fully covered by non-profit funds.

The project is supported by the unconditional contribution of Angelini Pharma SpA, Fondazione Canali Onlus, Fondazione Ico Falck and Fondazione Amadei and Setti. In addition to the pharmacological experimentation, the project also provides for the continuous monitoring of patients' vital parameters, such as breathing, heart rate and blood oxygenation. For this purpose, smart T-shirts are used, already distributed to hospitals in Genoa, Siena, Messina and Milan. Originally developed for monitoring athletes, these T-shirts are made of cotton woven with nanofibres capable of detecting the weak electrical signals of the human body and are tailor-made for each patient by the Italian company AccYouRate Group.

What is Mirtazapine?

Mirtazapine is a commercially available drug, therefore more easily accessible and sustainable. To facilitate its intake, a European company has been identified that can produce it in liquid formulation, a solution that is not widespread since the drug is normally marketed globally as tablets. ‘Our laboratory at UniTS Department of Life Sciences was the first in the world to demonstrate that mirtazapine, despite being an antidepressant, acts on broader mechanisms and can improve breathing, motor control, sleep quality and social communication in patients with Rett’s syndrome,’ explains Prof. Tongiorgi.

Access to the trial is open to new patients

In Friuli Venezia Giulia it is estimated that there are three or four girls affected by the syndrome who are not currently included in the study, but the prospects remain encouraging. ‘We hope that the health facilities in the region will also be able to participate in the trial,’ Tongiorgi said.

To ensure the scientific validity of the study, it is necessary to reach a total of 54 patients aged between 5 and 40 years, divided into the ranges 5-10, 11-17 and 18-40 years. Approximately one third have been recruited so the search for new participants is still open.

The Equal Opportunities Committee (CUG) awarded the best degree and doctoral theses on fighting all forms of discrimination, promoting equal opportunities and wellbeing at study and work places.

The award for the best undergraduate thesis went to Michela Predonzani, who wrote an essay on ‘Inclusive sport as a complementary action in rehabilitation projects aimed at people with intellectual disabilities’.

The award for the two best master’s degree thesis went to Jessica Baldassi (Gender certification: Irisiacqua case study) and to Chiara Granato (an adaptive school: a space that creates inclusion).

Costanza Ziani was awarded for the best PhD thesis, which was entitled ‘From organisational wellbeing to wellbeing organisation in the public administration’.

The variety of themes covered in the theses and the number of applications submitted show that the sensitivity to these issues has grown considerably. This also demonstrate the strategic nature of the path taken by the Equal Opportunities Committee and the entire  University in terms of information and training.

From health emergencies to sustainable everyday shopping, from support for out-of-town students to the wellbeing of pets, all the way to international learning mobility: these are the themes of the five entrepreneurial projects awarded at the Innovators Community Lab 2025 (ICL) final, held in the Sala Cappella of the former Military Hospital in via Fabio Severo.

The event concluded the first edition of ICL, which builds on the experience of the University of Trieste’s Contamination Lab.

During the final, the 20 finalist projects developed throughout this year’s programme were presented. The five €5,000 scholarships for the best entrepreneurial projects were awarded to: ResQ by Francesco Sulli, a Physics student, who aims to develop a smart first-aid case for companies, schools and public spaces; SiVale by Valentina Malijevic, a Law student, outlining a sustainable, plastic-free supermarket based on reusable and traceable containers; inU by Jovana Obradovic, a Psychology student, a digital platform supporting students in choosing a university and in out-of-town life in Friuli Venezia Giulia; Aura by Asja Feruglio, PhD in Design for Made in Italy—developed in collaboration with Siminozar Bahram, a Business Management student—proposing an advanced solution to reduce odours in dogs, combining scientific method and design; Kansje by Chiara Doga’, a Philosophy student, an app that collects and makes accessible opportunities for training and international mobility for young people.

Two training trips were also awarded to Francesco Sulli and Valentina Maljevic, as the best students of the course, enabling them to visit international innovation ecosystems. Overall, the awarded projects and profiles confirm the heterogeneous, multidisciplinary and cosmopolitan character of the ICL cohort, where the exchange of experiences and ideas involved students from different degree programmes and levels—from Physics to Law, from Psychology to Design, Business Management and Philosophy—and from diverse backgrounds.

The final also hosted the round table “Training to innovate: the driver of youth entrepreneurship”, bringing together universities, institutions and the business community on the role of education as a driver of innovation. In the discussion, moderated by journalist Paolo Pichierri, Rector Donata Vianelli stressed the importance of creating structured opportunities for dialogue among young people engaged in different academic pathways, pointing to the value of cross-fertilisation between skills and perspectives to support the transition from idea to entrepreneurial project, and highlighting the need to open up to international contexts and networks. The round table also featured Francesca Ros, President of Confindustria Giovani Alto Adriatico, and Giacomo Andolfato, President of Confindustria Giovani Udine.

Erik Vesselli, UniTS Delegate for Technology Transfer, added: “The Innovators Community Lab brings together the university’s three missions: education, research and social engagement. Technology transfer becomes tangible when research results enter territories, companies and institutions, also through the creation of new start-ups. This can only happen by working side by side, in a cross-fertilisation process involving lecturers, researchers, female and male students, and representatives of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

The ICL training programme, now structured to award 6 ECTS credits to those who complete it, further strengthened role-modeling opportunities in this edition, offering examples, experiences and contacts to understand first-hand the dynamics of innovation, enterprise and work through direct engagement with key players from the productive system. Alongside seminars and networking, ICLabbers visited the headquarters of the Marcegaglia Group, where they met the company leadership and toured Casa Marcegaglia, the corporate museum that tells the story, values and vision of a major industrial group.

During the evening, the call for the ICL 2025/2026 edition was also presented, with applications open until 12 January 2026. Full information and the call text are available on the University portal.

Awarded projects (project profiles)

Francesco Sulli, Physics student – “ResQ”
ResQ is a smart first-aid case designed to revolutionise emergency management in workplaces, schools and public spaces. It combines certified medical supplies with integrated sensors and a digital interface that guides users step by step, even those without medical training. Through the ResQ Connect app, it monitors the kit’s status, supply expiry dates and intervention history, simplifying the work of H&S officers and safety managers. The project foresees a family of products (Lite, Standard, Pro, Extreme) for contexts ranging from home use to construction sites and extreme outdoor scenarios.

Valentina Malijevic, Law student – “SiVale”
SiVale, a sustainable supermarket
Each year, millions of tonnes of packaging waste come from shopping baskets. Recycling is improving, but it is not enough: the real issue lies in the single-use model. SiVale was created to change this system, positioning itself as a new-generation supermarket. Here, products are sold loose and via refill dispensers, with free use of reusable containers equipped with RFID technology to ensure traceability. Reverse vending machines collect used containers, put them back into circulation and reward customers at the same time. Shopping no longer generates waste, but becomes an act of innovation and environmental responsibility. SiVale shows that a circular, plastic-free and technologically advanced model can become normal, desirable and scalable.

Jovana Obradovic, Psychology student – “inU”
inU is an independent digital platform that supports students in choosing a university and living as out-of-town students in Friuli Venezia Giulia. It integrates authentic course reviews, peer-to-peer support, detailed local information and a structured partnership with the Regional Guidance Centre (COR) to provide free professional support. With a freemium model and a B2B strategy with local partners, inU aims to become the region’s go-to hub for informed, student-centred university guidance, helping reduce university dropout and enhance the territory.

Asja Feruglio, PhD in Design for Made in Italy – “Aura”
Project developed with Siminozar Bahram, Business Management student
Aura is a research project developing an advanced solution to reduce odours in dogs, ensuring effectiveness, skin safety and biocompatibility. Combining scientific method and design, it delivers a product conceived to improve everyday hygiene and animal wellbeing. Its essence is not merely a fragrance: it represents the bond between dog and human being, a design that translates that relationship into an emotional and identity-based value.

Chiara Doga’, Philosophy student – “Kansje”
Kansje—Dutch for “small opportunity”—is an app designed for young people who want to pursue training or mobility experiences abroad, even with limited time or financial resources. Many free opportunities, funded by the EU or community-based, remain little known and hard to find: Kansje is the first unified database making them accessible through an intelligent matchmaking system that identifies the most suitable experiences for each user. The app also offers personalised guidance before and after departure, an educational pathway to prepare for travel, and a dedicated forum to connect with other young people.

Artificial intelligence capable of translating international guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C into clear clinical responses consistent with the most up-to-date standards: this is the focus of an international study led by Mauro Giuffrè, PhD student at the University of Trieste (Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences) and researcher at the Yale University School of Medicine, validated by the same authors of the European guidelines for the treatment of the disease.

Hepatitis C is an infection caused by HCV, which affects the liver and can develop into chronic forms with serious complications, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. According to the World Health Organisation, around 58 million people worldwide live with chronic infection and there are over 1.5 million new cases each year. WHO has set an ambitious goal of eliminating hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030, aiming to reduce new infections by 90% and deaths by 65%.

The development of innovative tools based on artificial intelligence, such as that presented in the study by the University of Trieste, plays a key role in pursuing these objectives: Improving adherence to therapeutic guidelines and facilitating access to appropriate care even in contexts with limited resources are concrete steps that can contribute to achieving global targets.

Significant improvements in clinical accuracy

The team developed and tested two innovative approaches to specialise GPT-4 in HCV management. On the one hand, they developed a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system that integrates European guidelines in real time which has been tested in two variants (RAG-Top1, which retrieves the single most relevant paragraph, and RAG-Top10, which retrieves the ten most relevant paragraphs). On the other hand, they developed a supervised fine-tuning (SFT) training of the language model on the guidelines’ contents.

The results exceeded all expectations: compared to 36.6% of the GPT-4 base model, the RAG-Top10 model achieved an accuracy of 91.7% in expert evaluations, RAG-Top1 81.7% and the SFT model 71.7%, thus achieving significant improvements compared to the standard model.

A novel validation system that includes guideline extenders and clinical experts

What makes this study particularly relevant is the applied validation methodology, a new entry in the scientific literature. Two separate groups of evaluators were recruited. The first group consisted of four expert hepatologists, selected from the lead authors and chairs of the HCV guidelines of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), the leading European experts in the treatment of hepatitis C and the drafters of the international guidelines.

A second group of hepatologists was added from a tertiary reference centre (Humanitas Hospital, Rozzano), ensuring a double perspective of evaluation between guideline theorists and clinical

practitioners in the field. This approach allowed us to obtain what the researchers themselves define as ‘an evaluation that approaches the gold standard in defining the accuracy of the outputs.’

Towards responsible integration of AI in medicine

The findings open up concrete perspectives for the use of artificial intelligence in clinical decision support. Both RAG and SFT significantly improve the performance of Large Language Models (LLMs) in managing hepatitis C through guidelines, improving not only the accuracy and clarity of responses, but also the selection of therapeutic regimens in clinical scenarios. The study represents a significant step towards what the authors call ‘the safe integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence into clinical practice’, confirming the potential of specialised and expertly validated language models as concrete decision support tools in medicine, particularly valuable in highly complex contexts such as the management of chronic liver diseases. The research, presented in the article From Guidelines to Real-Time Conversation: Expert-Validated Retrieval-Augmented and Fine-Tuned GPT-4 for Hepatitis C Management, published on Liver International, was supported by Nicola Pugliese and Alessio Aghemo (Humanitas University), bioengineers from the University of Trieste Simone Kresevic and Milos Ajcevic (Department of Engineering and Architecture) and an international network of hepatologists and artificial intelligence specialists, including Dennis L. Shung (Yale), Francesco Negro (University Hospitals of Geneva), Massimo Puoti (Niguarda General Hospital; University of Milan Bicocca), Xavier Forns (Hospital Clínic Barcelona; IDIBAPS; CIBERehd) and Jean-Michel Pawlotsky (UPEC/INSERM; AP-HP Paul Brousse, Paris).

A study conducted by UniTS professors Luca Cegolon (also working at ASUGI Hygiene and Preventive Medicine Department) and Francesca Larese Filon (ASUGI Occupational Medicine Department) has just published in the international scientific journal Contact Dermatitis (Wiley). The researched was focused on contact allergy to 5% nickel sulfate in 31,948 patients who underwent patch tests in Triveneto from 1997 to 2023.

Nickel is the most frequent cause of contact allergy, a hypersensitivity that can develop after repeated and prolonged skin exposures to allergens.

In 1994, EU Directive 94/27/EC restricted the use of nickel in jewellery and other consumer products that may come into contact with human skin.

Although this measure has led to a progressive reduction in nickel awareness in Europe, the benefit has mainly been seen in younger generations. Older people, on the other hand, who were sensitised before the entry into force of the Directive, contribute to the prevalence of nickel contact allergy at the global level.

In detail, the geographical distribution of nickel awareness is heterogeneous and tends to be higher in Mediterranean countries than in Northern Europe, probably due to a late and less stringent application of the European Directive.

Outside the European Union, specifically in North America and Japan, there continues to be a higher and increasing prevalence of nickel sensitisation over the years, due to the lack of restrictive legislation in this area.

The University of Trieste study points out that the prevalence of nickel sensitisation was 26.1% during the study period (1997-2023), followed a progressively decreasing time trend and was significantly lower in males. The trend also revealed an inverted U-shaped trend with respect to the year of birth among women, falling from 35.70% in those born between 1955 and 1964 to 46.24% in those born between 1965 and 1974, to 41.36% among those born in 1975-1984.

The inverted U-shaped pattern of positive reactions to patch tests by year of birth reflects nickel exposure and sensitisation in women aged 20 to 50 years, prior to the entry into force of the European Directive.

As regards the work performed by the persons surveyed, there was a significantly higher prevalence of positive reactions to the patch test among traders, while it was lower among pensioners and housewives. A higher prevalence of positive reactions among traders could reflect prolonged exposure in professions involving coin manipulation, while age-related immunosenescence could explain the lower prevalence of sensitisation in pensioners and housewives.

Although decreasing over the years, the prevalence of positive reactions to nickel has nevertheless remained higher than that of the northern European countries, probably due to a late and less rigorous application of the aforementioned European Directive. Other factors that may contribute to the higher prevalence of sensitisation in Mediterranean countries than in Northern Europe include social trends that have prompted Italian women to use nickel-containing jewellery products early, and higher ambient temperatures that facilitate the release and penetration of allergens into human skin from nickel-containing products.

The event organised by the Career Service of the University of Trieste was held this evening (Wednesday 10th December 2025), Homecoming – Success stories from UniTS and Alumni Happy Hour (aperitivo con gli alumni), to inspire new members and students who have already started their university careers and to foster mutual exchange, strengthening a link between those who are still attending the University and those who have not abandoned it, despite having finished their studies. 

THE GUESTS AND THE PROGRAMME – Four UniTS Alumni - now established professionals in different sectors - Andrea Cozzi (responsible for the New Exploration Initiatives and General Manager of Eni in Lebanon), Chiara Pacella (lead of the Language Management and Localization Quality Program teams of Meta), Silvia Toffolutti (Global Diversity and Inclusion and Wellbeing Lead of Chiesi) and Diego Scapolan (Project Manager of Allianz) moderated by Cristina Perini, head of the Press Office of the University of Trieste and graduated in Communication Sciences, shared their different experiences, from online dissemination to a job in multinational companies, in as many different stories, united from the same starting point: the University of Trieste. 

The event was held at the former Military Hospital of Trieste, the historic building of Via Fabio Severo, which has been housing the new Student Residence Hall since last September as the result of an agreement between the University of Trieste and ARDiS. 

‘The University of Trieste is part of a unique ecosystem of knowledge, in an area where there are important research centres. It is a university that tests you, that also teaches you to accept failure and get up. I also had to repeat tests, in one case I gave myself a ‘failed’ on my own. In my university career, failures have been moments of growth’, stressed the Magnificent Rector Prof. Donata Vianelli in her opening speech, pointing out how the stories of those who have passed through those same university classrooms can help those who attend them today in facing a passage that is not without challenges, in the context of a labour market in which there are fewer and fewer clear and predefined paths and more and more careers to be built with vision and courage. The Rector addressed a direct invitation to those present: ‘Choose paths that fascinate you both at university and at work’.

During the first part of the evening, ‘UniTS Success Stories’, hosted in the Sala Cappella, the five Alumni spoke to the audience of UniTS students, researchers, teachers and administrative staff describing their own personal, often original, path, which led them from graduation to the construction of a solid career.

ALUMNI – Andrea Cozzi, graduate in Geology, is now in charge of the New Exploration Initiatives and General Manager of Eni in Lebanon, explained how from a path initially bent towards academic teaching he has converted to the search for oil. From his university experience, he recalled the great spirit of collaboration and closeness between students, elements that also accompanied him in subsequent professional challenges in complex international contexts.

On the other hand, Chiara Pacella, via video link from Dublin, spoke about the transition from the local university dimension to work in a large international reality such as Meta: a graduate in Interpreting and Translation, today Pacella is Lead of the company’s Language Management team and Localization Quality Program, and she recommended that students seize all international opportunities to engage with other contexts and broaden their perspectives, starting with Erasmus. Her work focuses on the cultural adaptation of digital products, integrating language skills and technological tools in a hybrid model between human contribution and new technologies. When talking about her education in Trieste, she stressed the ‘very solid and high-level foundations’, fully comparable to those experienced in other contexts, albeit within a challenging and ‘severe’ path.

Silvia Toffolutti, on the other hand, deals with human resources. After graduating in Philosophy, she completed an MBA in Organisation and Personnel Management at Bocconi University in Milan and today she is Global Diversity and Inclusion and Wellbeing Lead at the Chiesi Group. In her speech, she illustrated projects dedicated to diversity and inclusion, with a particular focus on gender equality and the inclusion of people with disabilities, including the monitoring of gender pay gaps, company policies related to parenting and the promotion of women’s leadership. From her philosophy studies she said that she had brought at work the dialectical approach, the curiosity and the desire to question consolidated points of view: fundamental qualities to innovate also within organisations.

Last but not least, Diego Scapolan, graduated in Business Administration & Administrative and Professional Consulting, now Project Manager at Allianz. Scapolan advised the students not to be frightened by challenges, but to embrace them with enthusiasm and ‘a pinch of unconsciousness’, he suggested to cultivate a mentality of continuous learning, indispensable today more than ever to face the needs of a rapidly changing society and, therefore, the labour market. He recalled the role of talent management to understand the skills that will be required in the future and called for ‘seeing the stars but aiming for the moon’, without forgetting one’s loved ones and passions – such as sport – that should not be sacrificed for work. He also suggested using experiences such as Erasmus to see what is outside and compare with other realities.

The knowledge and exchange continued at the end of the talk with a networking aperitif where students and PhD students had the opportunity to discuss directly with teachers and alumni, in a relaxed context that helped to strengthen the sense of belonging to a community that UniTS wants to enhance. A network from which opportunities and collaborations can be generated, in the spirit of the Alumni project. Mentors also took part in the event: professionals with at least five years of work experience in various fields, graduates of the University of Trieste, members of the Mentors4UniTS initiative, thanks to which the University supports students enrolled in the penultimate or final year of a master’s degree course to achieve a growth path. The comparison with mentors helps them to focus their professional goals and enhance their attitudes: after some online meetings, tomorrow, Thursday 11th December 2025, the mentors will meet in person the students assigned to them.

THE EVENT IN SHORT – Homecoming – UniTS Success Stories is an annual event dedicated to students now at its seventh edition: today’s students, currently enrolled at the University of Trieste, and yesterday’students, the Alumni who bring their experience through inspiring talks, encouraging encounter and dialogue. The aim of the initiative is to tell success stories of graduates of the University of Trieste who, thanks to the skills acquired during their university career, have built significant careers in different professional fields, helping to strengthen the reputation and prestige of the University, which has gained two positions in the 2025-2026 Censis ranking of Italian Universities, thus reaching 5th place among medium-sized universities (between 10,000 and 20,000 students); this result – which is accompanied by an increase of more than 13% in new enrolments for undergraduate degree courses compared to last year – is due, among other factors, to the employability of graduates and the quality of the facilities, and events such as Homecoming - UniTS Success Stories and Alumni Happy Hour want to help make these fact well known.

An international study published in Nature Communications, coordinated by the National Optics Institute of the National Research Council (CNR INO) in Florence, studied the dynamics of vortices in highly interacting superfluids, identifying their fundamental mechanisms.

The study was carried out by the research group of Giacomo Roati at CNR INO, Francesco Scazza, associate professor of Physics of the Matter at UniTS, and the universities of Florence, Bologna, Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Augusta (Germany). 

 The investigated ‘vortexes’ are small reels of fluid that revolve around an axis, inside a lithium atom gas cooled to extremely low temperatures, just 10 billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Under these conditions, matter enters a state called superfluid, in which the viscosity disappears and the fluid flows without friction. The superfluid behavior of ultracold atoms is analogous to that of superconductors, where electric current can circulate without resistance, allowing the transport of current without loss of energy. In both systems, vortex dynamics play a key role as they can open a channel for energy dissipation.

Giacomo Roati, CNR-INO Research Manager at LENS and Head of the Research Group, explains: ‘The use of ultra-cold atomic gases has allowed us to study this phenomenon in a very controlled way, within real “quantum simulations”. The dynamics of the vortexes in the case studied share similarities with that in high-temperature superconductors, a field still under study. Understanding their motion is essential to assess dissipative effects and to design new high-efficiency superconducting systems, in which these effects can be minimised in a targeted manner, paving the way for cutting-edge quantum technologies.’

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Trieste and the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), has discovered in the jellyfish Cotylorhiza tuberculata (commonly known as ‘fried egg jellyfish’ or under the improper name ‘Mediterranean Jelly’) an articulated digestive system, similar to that of more sophisticated organisms, revealing a surprisingly complex internal anatomy that revolutionises the idea of jellyfish as ‘simple’ animals.

The results of the study were published in the scientific journal PLOS One.

Partners of the study include Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., the University of Milan, the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute of Ljubljana, the University of Primorska and the Aquarium in Piran.

Massimo Avian, associate professor at the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Trieste and Gregorio Motta, post-doc, commented: ‘In order to analyse the anatomical structure of the jellyfish, overcoming the difficulties linked to the fragility and opacity of the tissues, we used a state-of-the-art technique, injecting a resin into the gastrovascular system of the invertebrate which, once hardened, made it possible to obtain a perfect, three-dimensional copy of all the internal channels. The resulting cast was then analysed with an X-ray microtomography”.

The technique used by the researchers made it possible to discover real channels that branch off into the oral arms of the jellyfish, each of which has a central bottleneck, which functionally divides it into two semi-channels. Functional anatomy experiments, carried out by injecting non-toxic dyes into the stomach of live jellyfish to observe internal flows, have also shown that in these channels there is a two-way circulation. The seawater, rich in prey, is initially ingested by the innermost openings of the arms. After reaching the stomach cavity through the innermost semi-channel, after digestion, it descends to the second semi-channel (external), and then is expelled from the most peripheral and distal openings of the oral arms, expansions similar to large tentacles that are observed under the umbrella.

Valentina Tirelli, a researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS) among the authors of the study, states: ‘It has always been thought that in jellyfish the same opening served as both mouth and anus. On the other hand, this study shows that there is also a specialisation in Cotylorhiza tuberculata, with pores dedicated to the entry of food and others to the expulsion of waste products, to form a system that resembles a “through-gut” digestive tract, typical of more evolved animals. A similar system had already been identified by some of the co-authors of this work in another jellyfish, Rhizostoma pulmo. As these two species are phylogenetically distant, we hypothesize that this complex digestive mechanism could be much more prevalent among jellyfish than one might imagine.’

The research allowed to deepen the study of the biology of a common creature in our seas, demonstrating through modern observational techniques that evolution can produce complex solutions independently and unexpectedly, even in organisms often considered erroneously primitive.

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Full study published on PLOS One

New advances in jellyfish anatomy: the benefits of endocasts and X-ray microtomography in the investigation of the gastrovascular system of Cotylorhiza tuberculata (Scyphozoa; Rhizostomeae; Cepheidae)

Gregorio Motta1,2*, Marco Voltolini3, Lucia Mancini4, Diego Dreossi5, Francesco Brun6, Valentina Tirelli7,8, Lorenzo Peter Castelletto1, Manja Rogelja9, Antonio Terlizzi1,8, Massimo Avian1

1. Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
2. Department of Integrative Marine Ecology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Italy
3. Department of Earth Science Ardito Desio, University of Milano, Milano, Italy
4. Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
5. Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Trieste, Italy
6. Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
7. National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics, Trieste, Italy
8. National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
9. University of Primorska, Aquarium Piran, Piran, Slovenia

The Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DSCF) has inaugurated its new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) laboratory, the only one in the region with equipment this powerful. 

The laboratory is equipped with two latest generation spectrometers of 600 MHz and 400 MHz for a total value of more than one million euros. 

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, known above all for diagnostic applications in medicine, originates in the chemical field where it represents an extremely powerful investigative tool: it allows you to determine the structure of molecules in solution, from the simplest to the largest and most complex such as proteins.

For this reason, NMR is a key technique in the development of numerous lines of research in chemistry and biology.

At UniTS, NMR is used both for the basic molecular characterisation of different systems, ranging from catalysts for the production of innovative polymers to drugs and biologically active molecules, and for advanced studies of functionality and interactions in complex systems and nanosystems. In recent years, research has increasingly focused on sustainable chemistry and the development of alternative energies and materials, where NMR plays a crucial role.

The NMR Laboratory is also a strategic teaching resource and is used for theoretical and practical activities in the degree courses in Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, contributing to the education of highly qualified graduates.

The investment is part of the programme to upgrade scientific instruments launched in 2022 with an extraordinary call for tenders for the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment, which has already enabled the acquisition of equipment for over 4 million euros.