Recent observations using the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a surprisingly large number of black holes in the early universe. This research, led by Professor Matthew Hayes of Stockholm University and published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, also involved PhD student Vieri Cammelli of the University of Trieste.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope launched in 1990 by NASA and the ESA, which continues to provide extraordinary images of the cosmos. One of its most iconic observations, and one of the deepest ever collected in the visible light spectrum, was the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), an image of the universe showing galaxies formed not long after the Big Bang.

Twelve years later, the team of researchers again observed this same area of the universe to identify so-called active galactic nuclei, signs of the presence of accreting black holes. Using variations in the brightness of galaxies, numerous black holes housed within them were discovered, many of which formed during the early stages of the universe.

The discovery aligns with results from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a new instrument that continues to push the boundaries of astronomical observations. The JWST, launched in 2021, is capable of observing even more distant objects and providing new information on the birth and growth of black holes.

Vieri Cammelli, a PhD student at the University of Trieste and co-funded by Chalmers University in Gothenburg, played a key role in the analysis of the data: his research, which will form part of his PhD thesis, represents a significant contribution to the understanding of how supermassive black holes formed in the early stages of cosmic evolution.

To learn more about the research results, you can read Glimmers in the Cosmic Dawn: A Census of the Youngest Supermassive Black Holes by Photometric Variability in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Simone Kresevic, a PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering group at the Department of Engineering and Architecture, won two prestigious awards at the EU TalentOn 2024, held in Katowice, Poland. His project ‘Breath for Life’ not only won first place in the ‘Prevention and Treatment of Cancer’ category, but further distinguished itself by winning the final Grand Prize in all categories of the competition.

The project proposes an innovative device for the early diagnosis of cancer using a system based on innovative sensor technology and Artificial Intelligence-based analysis. The project stood out in terms of its scientific creativity, feasibility and practical impact. 

The EU TalentOn is a competition promoted by the European Commission as part of the Horizon Europe programme involving young researchers aged between 21 and 35 from all over Europe. Out of more than 1,200 applications, 108 participants were selected, divided into interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative solutions related to the five European Missions: climate change adaptation, cancer prevention and treatment, ocean and water restoration, zero-emission smart cities and sustainable soil management. 

Biomedical Engineering PhD student Francesco Bassi was also selected from our University.

https://eutalenton2024.eu/

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/discover-winners-eu-contest-young-scientists-and-eu-talenton-2024-09-13_en

Photo - Simone Kresevic with his two teammates during project preparation

Tiziano Agostini, Professor of General Psychology at the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste, received the prestigious Wolfgang Metzger Prize during the opening ceremony of the 23rd Scientific Conference of the Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications (GTA), held at the University of Milan-Bicocca. The award was presented to him for the book ‘Showing Time: Continuous Pictorial Narrative and the Adam and Eve Story - In Memory of Alberto Argenton’, of which he is co-author.

The prize, named after the German psychologist Wolfgang Metzger, is awarded to those who have significantly contributed to the research and application of Gestalt Theory. Gestalt is an interdisciplinary approach that sees the human being as an open system in constant interaction with its environment. It focuses on how we perceive the whole of an experience or phenomenon, rather than its individual parts, emphasising the importance of global perceptual structures. In a nutshell, what we perceive is not a sum of elements, but simply a synthesis of reality.

For Professor Agostini, this award represents not only a personal accolade, but also an important achievement for the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste. This is the second time that the Metzger Prize has been awarded to a lecturer at the University of Trieste: the first to receive it was Gaetano Kanizsa, founder of the Experimental Psychology Laboratory in Trieste, together with Riccardo Luccio in 1987.

With the awarding of Tiziano Agostini, the University of Trieste reaffirms its leading role on the international academic scene, continuing its tradition of excellence in research on the psychology of perception and experience..

An international study co-ordinated by the Interdisciplinary Centre of Nanoscience of Marseille, with the collaboration of organisations and research centres of excellence, including the Biology and Nanotechnology Laboratory of the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste, has synthesised a new antibacterial compound that promises to be an excellent candidate for the fight against antibiotic resistance, a growing global public health problem that still causes millions of deaths worldwide.

‘The main threat is posed by the eskape group of bacteria - comprising the genera Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species - because they are particularly virulent and resistant to antibiotics introduced with treatment” explains Sabrina Pricl, one of the study's researchers and associate professor of chemical engineering at the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste. “Hence the need to develop new antibacterial agents that, on the one hand, are able to kill bacteria, on the other, are not toxic to the organisms that take them in and, above all, do not induce the appearance of further drug resistance.’

The molecule synthesised by the researchers - an amphiphilic dendrimer called AD1b - proved highly efficient against all Gram-negative bacteria, including drug-resistant strains such as Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii.

The compound interacts with the bacterium by an innovative mechanism of action: it binds to the phospholipids of the bacterial membrane, such as phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin, causing the destruction of the membrane itself and the consequent collapse of cell metabolism, leading to the death of the bacterium, without damaging healthy cells - even in vivo - and minimising the risk of developing new resistance, a problem that otherwise plagues traditional antibiotics.

In preclinical tests, the molecule demonstrated strong antibacterial activity as well as great safety, with very low toxicity and no haemolytic effect - results later confirmed in in vivo tests. Moreover, after thirty days of exposure to the compound, no resistance was observed; on the contrary, a drastic reduction in the bacterial load in infected animals was observed.

‘This molecule could pave the way for safer and more targeted therapies and thus give an impetus to the treatment of resistant infections: together with its efficacy, in fact, the ability to not induce resistance puts it in pole position to be further developed at the clinical translational level’ explains Professor Sabrina Pricl.

Researchers from the University of Trieste worked on the design of the AD1 molecule and took part in the computational study, using molecular dynamics simulations to study the interaction between AD1b and the bacterial membrane, applying advanced methodologies supported by CINECA's supercomputing resources.

The research project was funded with NRRP funds and was supported by ICSC, the National Research Centre in High-Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing.

As part of the activities of SiS FVG, the Scientific and Innovation System of Friuli Venezia Giulia, which coordinates 17 regional research and innovation entities, Area Science Park in collaboration with the University of Trieste is promoting for the second year a series of seminars on the topics of intellectual property and the exploitation of research results, making use of the experience of expert speakers in technical and legal aspects from the GLP group.

The initiative, created to disseminate knowledge of intellectual property to students, faculty and researchers at the University, is open to all interested parties.

The seminars will be held at the UniTS CLab, 40 F. Severo Street (Former Military Hospital), in Trieste.

Participation in the seminars is free of charge, after registering at the following link   

PROGRAM:

• Module 1 - Overview of Intellectual Property Rights - Patent Focus

  September 26, 2024 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

  Speaker: Stefano Ligi

• Module 2 - New discipline of inventions in the academic field (art.65 C.P.I.)

  October 9, 2024 from 16:00 to 18:00 hours

  Speaker: Lorenzo Fabro

• Module 3 – NDA e Licensing

      October 14, 2024 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

      Speaker: Lawyer Erika Poletti

• Module 4 - Copyright e Creative Commons

      November 13, 2024 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

      Speaker: Lawyer Carmela Barilà

For information:  clab@units.it 

The new Major Project of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs nad International Cooperation (MAECI) entitled ‘CoReng - Conservation of the Religions Complex in Old Cairo through the integration of geosciences and earthquake engineering’ has been launched.

The Italy-Egypt bilateral scientific and technological collaboration project, coordinated by Chiara Bedon, involves UniTS with researchers and lecturers from the Department of Engineering and Architecture (DIA) and the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Geosciences (MIGe). 

CoReng's theme is ‘New Technologies applied to Cultural and Natural Heritage’.

The objective is to develop new methodologies for monitoring, assessing the vulnerability, hazard and seismic risk of the monumental buildings of the Religious Complex in Old Cairo. These are highly specialised and multidisciplinary activities, which demonstrate the strong synergy between the various fields of civil engineering and geosciences.

For DIA, in addition to Chiara Bedon, Marco Fasan, Raul Berto, Alessio Bortot, Stefano Bozza, Alessandro Mazelli (PhD student) and Franco Vaccari (with a CoReng research grant) are involved. Fabio Romanelli is collaborating on the project for MIGe.

The joint activities will be carried out in cooperation with colleagues at the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) in Cairo, coordinated by Hesham Mossa.

CoReng is one of the four projects (out of more than 100 applications) selected for the new 2024-2026 Executive Programme, and provides funding of €200,000

University of Trieste PhD student in Applied Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Davide Basso won the prestigious EDA (Electronic Design Automation) Competition during the SMACD conference (International Conference on Synthesis, Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Methods, and Applications to Circuit Design). This important international event was held in Volos, Greece.

The EDA Competition aims to promote the advancement of automation in circuit and integrated system design. Davide's success is the result of a close collaboration between the University of Trieste, in particular the PhD student himself under the supervision of Prof. Luca Bortolussi, and Infineon Technologies, a leading multinational in the semiconductor industry. Together, they have developed machine learning-based solutions for the complete automation of analogue circuit layouts, an area of growing interest in electronic engineering.

The jury, made up of academic representatives from universities such as Seville, Thessaloniki, Parma and Salerno, as well as industry representatives such as Ansys, evaluated the submitted projects according to criteria of complexity, level of automation and integration with commercial systems. At the end of the evaluations, Davide Basso and Jiaxiang Pan, from the University of Ningbo - China, were declared winners due to the high innovative value of their work.

The award confirms the importance of their research work in the field of artificial intelligence applied to circuit automation, underlining the role of our university in helping to revolutionise the technology sector.

In the photo, Davide Basso and Jiaxiang Pan, Master's student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Ningbo University, China

A silent, quiet, protected space: a new museum area dedicated to sensory decompression will be available within the exhibition route at the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico of Trieste from 10th September.

This innovative space is the result of a collaboration between the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico and the University of Trieste, with the contribution of Fondosviluppo FVG. It is a refuge area for those who, while visiting such a dynamic and socialising environment as the science centre, may need a break to rebalance their senses.

The space was presented on Tuesday 10th September by Serena Mizzan, president and director of the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico, Caterina Falbo, Deputy Rector for Third Mission and Knowledge Dissemination at the University of Trieste, Giuseppina Scavuzzo, associate professor in Architectural and Urban Composition at the University of Trieste, and Elena Bulfone, president of the non-profit foundation ProgettoAutismo FVG.

The initiative stems from the need to make the museum more and more inclusive for all visitors, in particular for people with sensory atypicalities, such as those on the autistic spectrum, the elderly, or people with neurodegenerative disorders. The Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico is in fact already accessible to people with motor, visual and hearing disabilities, and works constantly on cognitive and sensory inclusivity, with the aim of being accessible to all and improving the well-being of visitors.

The decompression space includes a special seat, covered in sound-absorbing material, known as the Alone-Together Seat. This innovative piece of furniture, designed as part of the European research project The Sensitive Home Senshome, led by Prof. Giuseppina Scavuzzo of the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste, is intended to promote the sensory well-being of people with autism or other sensory and cognitive disabilities. Originally designed for residential environments, the seat has been adapted for the museum context and can accommodate up to two people, thus providing a quiet space for other needs, such as breastfeeding or for situations where sensory overload is experienced.

Completing the shelter area is an element of separation from the rest of the museum, covered with sound-absorbing material, and two information panels, also made of sound-absorbing material, provided free of charge by Eternoivica s.r.l. of Padua. The information panels offer explanations on topics such as the perception of sound, sensory overload and sensory atypicality, the functioning of sound-absorbing and sound-insulating materials.

The new space is therefore not only a place of rest and refuge, but also a tool for knowledge dissemination. It tells the public about the multidisciplinary research conducted by the University of Trieste, with a focus on the importance of neurodiversity and sensory atypicality. Consolidating the University's existing presence at the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico, Unidiversitas, the newly inaugurated space testifies to the University's commitment to promoting accessibility and inclusion as well. 

The excavation campaign carried out by the UniTS Humanities Department team in the area of the ‘House of Dancing Putti’ (near today's Via Gemina), entrusted with an excavation concession by the Ministry of Culture - Friuli Venezia Giulia's Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Heritage, led to a number of important discoveries, including the discovery of a marble statue of Dionysus.

The ‘quarter’ under investigation, to the northwest of the forum, was characterised by its centrality with respect to the political and commercial heart of Aquileia and to the network of water and land communications within and outside the city. Inside was a vast and luxurious late antique residence, known as the House of the Dancing Putti, which had occupied the entire quarter since its first settlement (mid 4th century AD).

Thanks to the investigations of the University of Trieste, it has been possible to rediscover a series of rooms, once decorated with mosaics, whose characteristics and dimensions can be identified with some of those identified in the 1930s by the archaeologist Giovanni Brusin and subsequently re-interred. This yields important data for scientific research.

The first new development is of a topographical nature: the team georeferenced these remains and verified the actual correspondence between them and archive data (plans, photos, drawings, etc.).

The second concerns the chronology proposed for some mosaic floors that have been dated so far, in the absence of contextual data, on the basis of stylistic typological analysis. New dating proposals can now be made on stratigraphic bases and on the association with the materials found.

A further fundamental result was that of being able to ‘link’ the remains identified in the 1930s with those of the House of the Dancing Putti, of which, in all probability, they constituted a representative sector.

Also of great importance was the work carried out inside an uncovered area, possibly used as a garden, where, thanks to the absence of mosaic floors, it was possible to descend in depth and intercept, more than a metre from the floor level and under a clay fill, an opus signinum (a type of Roman concrete) floor whose chronology is still being defined, but probably predates the mid-1st century AD. Precisely from the excavation in this area, it was possible to recover a valuable marble statuette depicting Dionysus, a rare testimony of the sculptural decoration of this late antique house.

The dissemination of the significant data discovered over the years at this site is also possible thanks to the extraordinary openings of the excavation sites, organised by the Fondazione Aquileia in collaboration with Friuli Venezia Giulia's Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Heritage (Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli Venezia Giulia), on the occasion of the European Archaeology Days, held this year on 13th, 14th and 15th June, and the next European Heritage Days (28th and 29th September). These events, like all other public archaeology initiatives supported by the University of Trieste in the excavation site of Aquileia, provide an opportunity to share our archaeological heritage and contribute to strengthening the value of the traces of the past as a shared public asset.

Il prof. Federico Rosei, del Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Farmaceutiche di UniTS, è il vincitore dell’edizione 2024 del Nanotechnology Recognition Award di AVS (American Vacuum Society), la comunità internazionale di scienziati e ingegneri attivi nella promozione della ricerca nel campo della tecnologia dei materiali.

Il riconoscimento, assegnato dalla divisione NSTD (Nanoscience and Technology Division) di AVS, premia ogni anno scienziati che si sono distinti per i loro eccezionali contributi scientifici e tecnici nel campo della della ricerca su materiali in scala nanometrica.