Iris Zalaudek, Full Professor of Cutaneous and Venereal Diseases and Head of the Specialisation School in Dermatology, has received the prestigious Certificate of Appreciation Awards in the International Leadership of Dermatology.

The recognition is awarded by the International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS), which brings together 215 different scientific societies from 103 countries worldwide, with the aim of promoting strategic leadership at an international level in the field of medicine dealing with skin and cutaneous adnexa diseases.

The UniTS lecturer, who is also Head of the Clinical Dermatology Department and STD Centre of the ASUGI (local health service), was recognised for her significant contribution to the promotion of international dermatology, with a positive impact on global health policies and practices, promoting cross-border research, education and empowerment of dermatologists, their societies and the public.

Professor Zalaudek was the first female President of the International Society of Dermoscopy (2016-2021) and was named among the 50 most influential women in dermatology in 2021.

On the occasion of this award, we asked our lecturer for a contribution describing the state of the art and the most important challenges of international dermatology within healthcare systems.

Dermatology - a multidisciplinary branch

More than 2,000 skin and mucosal diseases demonstrate the diversity of dermatology. It is a speciality that interfaces with many other disciplines, dealing with the physiology and pathology of the skin and mucous membranes, tumour diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases and autoimmune dermatoses, ageing processes, infections, allergies and other environmental diseases.

Skin diseases affect all age groups and genders. Chronic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis or psoriasis, are very common and require lifelong treatment.

Dermatology, like many other specialities, is experiencing a real revolution in medical therapies: more and more new, innovative and effective drugs are arriving for the treatment of skin tumours and inflammatory diseases. Biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies and immuno-check-point inhibitors, JAK-inhibitors, etc. have expanded the landscape of personalised dermatology. 

Dermatology - a constantly changing discipline

Dermatological research is the prerequisite for acquiring new knowledge, the clinical application of which is used for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. An active national and international exchange (conferences, associations and guideline work) makes it possible to share research results and to develop new research questions and approaches.

The quality of dermatological treatment is fundamentally based on guidelines that are regularly reviewed and updated.

In a constantly ageing society, prevention and early diagnosis, as well as early treatment concepts with innovative therapies, such as 'proactive instead of reactive therapy', need to be incorporated more than ever in order to change the course of the disease, prevent comorbidities and reduce or avoid side effects, also in terms of healthcare system funding.

Dermatology - challenges for the future

An ageing society poses major challenges to the health care system: the number of elderly people in need of care and the chronically ill will increase with significant repercussions and pressure on funding. More prevention, multi-professionality and good interaction between the health professions are needed. Clinics are already facing great challenges due to staff shortages.

Efforts are being made to counter this, but forecasts for the next five to six years predict further deterioration.

The skin, however, is also a model organ that is particularly suitable for digital medicine because it is easily accessible. Apps and artificial intelligence are already components of digital support for diagnostics and therapy. Digital health apps, systematic digital networking of data in research (big data), diagnostic devices and teledermatology have the potential to improve comprehensive dermatological care and thus avoid waiting times.

Although digitisation cannot replace personal contact with a doctor in all cases, it offers people with skin changes a real opportunity to consult a specialist/app, without having to wait months.

An international team of researchers coordinated by the University of Trieste has discovered a new species of Antarctic shrimp – the Orchomenella rinamontiae – a crustacean belonging to the order of amphipods, identified in the vicinity of the Mario Zucchelli Italian Antarctic Station by Piero Giulianini, zoologist and professor at the University of Trieste’s Department of Life Sciences, during the 33rd Italian Antarctic Expedition in Terra Nova Bay.

The event opens up new avenues for research and represents a significant step forward for a deeper understanding of marine life and biodiversity in the most remote and inhospitable regions of the planet: knowledge of Antarctic marine communities and the species that make them up is, in fact, of fundamental importance for monitoring global changes due to human activities.

‘The initial aim of the research was to verify the responses of an Antarctic shrimp species to warming seas. However, morphological and genetic analyses revealed that some of the samples belonged to a previously undescribed species,’ explains Piero Giulianini, zoologist and professor of the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste. ‘The new species belongs to a dominant and endemic group in Antarctic waters, scavenger shrimps that play a key role in marine communities, consuming and dispersing food of all sizes. Like a litmus test, monitoring the abundance and diversity of these shrimps will allow us to understand the ongoing anthropogenic impacts on these delicate ecosystems: human impact on the environment, in fact, negatively affects marine communities, hampering their diversity and complexity. But not only that, in our laboratories we will also conduct analyses to study how the newly identified species responds to ocean warming,’ the professor concludes.

For the morphological analysis, the researchers used an innovative and advanced imaging technique, X-ray microtomography, which allowed them to obtain high-resolution three-dimensional images of the new species, offering the advantage of digitally examining the sample without introducing artefacts and distortions due to manipulation.

The discovery not only enriches the catalogue of Antarctic marine species, but also underlines the importance of combining physical and genetic analyses for species classification, through technologically advanced tools such as microtomography, which could revolutionise the way biological samples are studied and classified. As image resolution continues to improve and equipment costs decrease, microtomography could soon become a standard technique in biodiversity research, greatly accelerating the process of species discovery, description and classification.

The name chosen to describe the new shrimp, Orchomenella rinamontiae, is a tribute by the research group to the zoologist Rina Monti, who in 1907 became the first Italian woman to hold a professorship at the University of Sassari, and celebrates her pioneering contribution to zoology in academia.

The study involved the Applied Zoology and Applied Genomics research groups of the University of Trieste (Piero Giulianini, Samuele Greco, Elisa D’Agostino, Marco Gerdol, Alberto Pallavicini, Chiara Manfrin) with the contribution of two experts in the field of Antarctic shrimp classification: Claude de Broyer of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and Ed Hendrycks of the Canadian Museum of Nature. A physicist and a zoologist from the University of Calabria (Sandro Donato and Anita Giglio) participated in the analysis of X-ray microtomography data performed at Sincrotrone Elettra in Trieste.

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Full study published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society   
‘A new Antarctic species of Orchomenella G.O. Sars, 1890 (Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Tryphosidae): is phase-contrast micro-tomography a mature technique for digital holotypes?’

Piero G. Giulianini1, Claude De Broyer2, Ed A. Hendrycks3, Samuele Greco1, Elisa D’Agostino1, Sandro Donato4,5,6, Anita Giglio7, Marco Gerdol1, Alberto Pallavicini1, Chiara Manfrin1

1Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
2Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bruxelles, Belgium
3Canadian Museum of Nature, Research and Collections, Ottawa, Canada
4Department of Physics, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy
5Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Division of Frascati, Frascati, Rome, Italy
6Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste SCpA, in AREA Science Park, Basovizza, Trieste, Italy
7Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy

The 2024 edition of ’Signals from the climate in FVG’, the popular publication realised by the technical-scientific working group Climate FVG set up by the regional administration in 2022 and coordinated by Arpa FVG, is freely available. 

This work, available online on Arpa's website, aims to inform the regional population – and all public and private stakeholders – about climate change, its effects and the actions that can be taken to tackle it in our region. At the same time, the publication also makes it possible to link the local dimension with the global one, through articles that broaden our view to what is happening on a wider scale.

‘Signals from the climate’ is therefore not a report on the state of the climate in Friuli Venezia Giulia, but rather a description of the situation, how important it is to become aware of it and act, and how society, public administration and the scientific world are already acting.

The ‘magazine’ collects more than 40 articles by 67 authors working at the FVG Climate Group entities: Region, ARPA FVG, University of Trieste, University of Udine, ICTP, OGS and CNR with the two institutes of marine and polar sciences.

The year 2023 was the third hottest year ever recorded in the region: the atmosphere and the sea reached above-average temperatures for many months and extreme events of considerable intensity affected several areas of the region. This year, the story begins of the signs of climate change that we detect in our territory and that translate into diverse effects on the various natural systems and productive sectors, calling us to 'act for the climate'. 

Experts from the various fields – climatologists, geologists, oceanographers, biologists, agronomists, economists, engineers, architects, environmental, public administration and health professionals – from our region accompany the reader on a journey of knowledge that starts in our mountains and winds its way ideally following the flow of water across the plains, to the lagoon and the sea. Returning to the mainland, the articles explore the effects of climate change on plants and animals, both in their natural state and in the agricultural sector.

This issue also concludes with some examples of actions taken by public bodies, primarily the FVG Region, for climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

This edition also hosts a remembrance of Maurizio Fermeglia, former Rector of UniTS who passed away last February, and one of his last popular contributions. A total of six articles are signed by researchers from the Department of Engineering and Architecture and the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste.

Mountains and Climate Change: A Fragile Balance in a Vulnerable Environment (p.43)

Maurizio Fermeglia (DIA) with a preface by Sabrina Pricl (DIA)

The effects of climate change are particularly evident in the mountains, a very vulnerable environment where even 'small' increases in temperature have amplified effects and can compromise the delicate balance that revolves around 0 °C. The consequences are significant, from melting glaciers and permafrost to impacts on ecosystems and mountain activities. Important changes are already being felt by mountain users: hikers, mountaineers, skiers and ski mountaineers.

Freshwaters: Changing Perspective to Cope with a Changing Climate (p.89)

Elisabetta Pizzul, Marco Bertoli (DSV)

Freshwater ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to changes in the environment and climate. A change in the way we perceive and manage them is necessary not only to preserve them, but also to enable them to perform those functions that are effective natural solutions to cope with climate change as well.

Transformation of Reclamation Landscapes and New Friuli Deserts in a Framework of Changing Agricultural and Climatic Patterns (p.105)

Thomas Bisiani, Adriano Venudo (DIA)

The drainage of the Friuli-Isontine plain has shaped the landscape, creating a hydrographic network that today performs important ecological functions. This environmental, historical and cultural heritage is now threatened by new agricultural models and irrigation efficiency methods adopted to cope with climate change. A balance must be found between the needs of agriculture, the environment and the landscape to stem a veritable 'desertification' of the land.

Courageous Mice: The Role of Small Mammals in the Adaptation of Oak and Beech Trees to Climate Change (p.153)

Alessio Mortelliti (DSV)

Up to 90 per cent of plants in an ecosystem may depend on animals for the dispersal of their seeds, as is the case for oaks and beeches, ecologically and economically important trees in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Small mammals, such as mice and voles, perform this vital function in complex and fascinating ways, and some research shows that certain individuals are particularly important in this process.

Climate Change and Well-Being: Summer Temperatures in Living Spaces (p.195)

Marco Manzan, Atlas Ramezani (DIA)

High temperatures, especially when associated with high humidity, can be dangerous for people, especially the most frail. In order to act to protect them, with a view to climate equity, it is important to assess this phenomenon in homes, especially those without air conditioning systems. A UniTS study analysed indoor conditions of comfort and stress in a multi-family building, considering the current and future climate and also the effect of electric fans.

Building and Climate Change: Designing Structures More Resistant to Extreme Events (p. 203)

Chiara Bedon (DIA)

With global warming, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is generally increasing. Many building components and systems, designed to withstand conventional weather events, are deficient for extreme phenomena, such as those recently recorded in FVG. New attention will be needed to adapt building systems, and in particular their most vulnerable components, to make them more resistant to the most intense weather events.

The University of Trieste hosted, in the Main Hall of Building D (Piazzale Europa Campus), the closing event of the 5G-SITACOR project, which conducted a feasibility study for the implementation of 5G along cross-border sections of the Mediterranean and Baltic-Adriatic TEN-T corridors between Italy and Slovenia.

The study was coordinated by the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in collaboration with the University of Trieste, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), DARS (Slovenia), Telekom Slovenije (Slovenia), Anas (Italy), Autostrade Alto Adriatico (Italy), Retelit (Italy) and Luka Koper (Slovenia) with the objective of evaluating and defining the best ways to exploit the potential of 5G technology (higher throughput, lower latency and higher reliability) in different areas for the development of linear infrastructure such as Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) and road safety in the identified areas.

The event was attended by political representatives from the Ministry for Digital Transformation of the Republic of Slovenia and the Department of Property, State Property, General Services and Information Systems of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, as well as a technical contribution from the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy.

The study, preparatory to the participation of the FVG Region in the next call of the European Commission, analysed the state of the art, with geographical analysis, of the road network and telecommunication infrastructures, whose collected information allowed to develop the second part of the work. In fact, it was possible to define the parameters necessary for the creation of an infrastructure dedicated to the development of smart digital and services for territories and communities, evaluating the best ways to apply 5G network technology for the development of linear infrastructures, such as connected and automated mobility and road safety, along 275km of motorway between Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia. 

In detail, the motorways covered by the study include over 200km of the Mediterranean corridor and the Baltic-Adriatic corridor, and over 60km of additional motorways as secondary routes in case of critical events. The main sections are: Udine Nord-Palmanova (27km), Latisana-Fernetti and Fernetti-Sežana (102km), Fernetti-Sezana-Divača (16km), Fernetti-Koper via Trieste (36km), Koper- Divača-Postojna (57km) and Villesse-Gorizia-Nova Gorica-Razdrto (62km).

The University of Trieste, as part of the project, was responsible for studying the safety requirements of the infrastructure, in particular how they can be enhanced through the use of quantum technologies. One of the most promising uses of 5G is the possibility of enabling autonomous driving, for which it is necessary to exchange a large amount of information (presence of other vehicles, road conditions, road signs, and so on and so forth.) and secure communications between all the elements of the infrastructure.

The working group co-ordinated by Prof. Angelo Bassi, full professor of Theoretical Physics, has developed an architecture based on quantum communication to ensure the safe exchange of information between moving vehicles and their control centres.

The University of Trieste, which for several years has been running an important programme for the development of these innovative technologies, has a cutting-edge laboratory for the development of quantum communication, which has been set up with the support of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.

In this regard, UniTS is also participating in the creation of a quantum network on fibre optics that will connect the three regional universities: the network will be managed by LightNet, one of the spearheads of our region in the field of communications infrastructure. Plans for the future are to connect this infrastructure to the rest of the country and neighbouring countries, including Slovenia. 

'The 5G Sitacor project,' Bassi concludes, 'paves the way for the realisation of a digital infrastructure that will benefit economic operators and citizens. In the academic field, I would like to emphasise the start of an important collaboration between the University of Trieste and the University of Ljubljana on a strategic issue for the area'. 

Developing a new therapy capable of completely regenerating the heart after a myocardial infarction, forming new tissue and new blood vessels to restore the heart muscle to full function: this is the goal of the RESCUE international research project - Bridging the gap between cardiac regeneration and revascularization coordinated by the University of Trieste, which involves experts in cardiac regeneration and angiogenesis from Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Turkey.

‘For many years, progress in the fields of cardiac regeneration and angiogenesis have proceeded in the same direction, without talking to each other. However, repairing a heart damaged by an infarction requires the formation of both new heart muscle and new blood vessels. With the RESCUE project, we aim to bridge this gap between cardiac regeneration and revascularisation: we want, in fact, to develop a new biological drug containing two active ingredients - and in particular two RNA molecules - that can regenerate the heart and simultaneously promote the vascularisation of the regenerated tissue,' explains project coordinator Serena Zacchigna, professor of molecular biology at the department of medical, surgical and health sciences at the University of Trieste and head of the cardiovascular biology laboratory at ICGEB (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology).

The researchers have already identified a number of candidate molecules, which have been shown to promote the proliferation of heart muscle cells on the one hand and the formation of new blood vessels, both small capillaries and larger arteries, on the other. Over the next three years, researchers will experiment with different combinations until they identify the most effective one. This will be the first time that two biological molecules, capable of stimulating these two fundamental processes for the repair of an infarcted heart, are combined in a single drug, to demonstrate synergy of action. 

The University of Trieste – the only Italian university leading one of the seventeen projects selected by the CARDINNOV call for proposals – will coordinate the study in collaboration with the Monzino Cardiological Centre Research Hospital, in particular with the research group of Prof. Giulio Pompilio, scientific director and alternate Italian delegate to the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). 

'Myocardial infarction continues to be a major cause of death,' explains Prof. Giulio Pompilio, scientific director of the Monzino Cardiological Centre Research Hospital. 'Research has recently produced new RNA drugs that act on the risk factors of infarction, but there are still no therapies that stimulate heart repair. In the coming years, we expect more and more RNA drugs to be introduced into the clinic for the treatment of heart disease,' the professor concludes.

The National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid, the University of Utrecht, the Lokman Hekim University in Ankara, the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and the PLN Foundation patient association, the latter of which is responsible for educating and raising awareness among patients and caregivers about the new RNA therapies, are collaborating on the project. 

With funding of EUR 1.5 million - of which more than 600,000 are earmarked for Italy, through the Ministry of University and Research and the Ministry of Health - the project is promoted by the EU ERA4Health partnership, which supports collaboration between various European and international research bodies in priority areas in the health sector, fostering the development of therapeutic innovations..

The Wastereduce project, which involves Croatia and Italy as part of the VI European Territorial Cooperation Program Interreg 2021-2027, was presented at the University of Trieste.

The green project, lasting two and a half years, involves collaboration between research institutes, local administrations, environmental protection and resource management agencies, non-governmental organizations, and service companies. The goal is to improve waste management in protected areas and Natura 2000 Network sites. The initiative aims to implement joint actions to combat waste abandonment using innovative detection and intervention methods.

Eight partners from the regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, and Istria are participating in the project: the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism of Poreč, the consortium leader, the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste, the Istrian Region, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Veneto, the managing body of the natural reserves of the Istrian region "Natura Histrica", the Association for Nature, Environment, and Sustainable Development "Sunce" based in Croatia, ETRA SpA - a benefit company based in Bassano del Grappa (Treviso), and Etifor – Valuing Nature, a spin-off of the University of Padua.

Wastereduce, funded with over 1.6 million euros by the European Union, was created in response to recent alarming data provided by the European Community. This data predicts that, in a "business-as-usual" scenario, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems will nearly triple by 2040, rising from the current 9-14 million tons per year (2016 data) to a forecast of 23-37 million tons per year.

It is estimated that about 80% of this marine debris comes from land-based sources: waste inadequately managed in landfills, litter left on beaches and coastal areas, river runoff, coastal tourism, and waste directly disposed of at sea (e.g., illegal dumping or accidental release from ships).

These materials, especially plastics, cause severe economic damage, impacting coastal communities, tourism, navigation, and fishing. They also pose health risks to humans and biodiversity, affecting public health and resources like drinking water.

The project's approach aims to minimize human activities' pressure on protected areas and Natura 2000 sites by proposing solutions to reduce waste dispersal and developing cross-border cooperation mechanisms to monitor and identify critical areas where waste accumulation requires targeted management efforts. Complementary studies in behavioral psychology will be conducted to understand how to promote habit changes among those who use protected areas and may unknowingly contribute to environmentally harmful actions.

According to Dr. Barbara Sladonja of the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism of Poreč, the project coordinator, "Wastereduce aims to involve as many local entities, institutions, and individual citizens as possible from the outset, who can actively support societal change towards a more sustainable and low-impact future."

The use of advanced technologies, including satellite imagery, will be crucial for necessary territorial analysis to optimize waste collection points. "An important challenge we will face is understanding how the development of artificial intelligence can support remote monitoring systems to control waste accumulation in areas of natural value," says Professor Giovanni Bacaro, Professor of Environmental and Applied Botany at the University of Trieste and project referent for the Department of Life Sciences.

Finally, citizen involvement at various levels will be essential for the project's success. Education and awareness actions will focus on citizens, whose feedback will guide new waste management policies by the project partners. These policies are expected to translate into concrete actions to reduce, mitigate, and prevent pollution from waste in our natural reserves, rivers, and seas. Another result will be increased attractiveness for visitors to natural reserves, thereby enhancing the tourism value of the involved territories.

UniTS TREELAB has been enhanced with a laser ablation (€ 366,000) and a methylmercury analyser (€ 72,000), thanks to a partnership with ASUGI and PNRR-PNC funding for the analysis of environmental and occupational trace pollutants. 

The laser ablation enables the analysis of metals on surfaces and other substrates, while the methylmercury analyser checks the presence of mercury in water, air and hair.       

The new instruments add to the laboratory's equipment, enabling in-depth investigations into heavy metals in the region. By collaborating between doctors, chemists and geologists different skills have been combined to strengthen and deepen environmental and workplace investigations.

Also thanks to PNC-PRR funding, a further piece of equipment is being acquired that will enable the identification of trace organic molecules and make the ASUGI-UniTS laboratories complete.

TREELAB is a collaboration between the Clinical Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Geosciences. The activities within the laboratories are carried out and coordinated by Professors Francesca Larese Filon, former Director of the Department of Integrated Activities for Health and Safety, Gianpiero Adami, Matteo Crosera and Stefano Covelli, together with their collaborators and technicians.
 

The offer of degree programmes at the University of Trieste is about to be enriched. Starting from the 2024-2025 academic year, two new master's degrees will be opened, characterised by a markedly international and professionalising perspective, entirely in English: Engineering for the energy transition and European Policies for digital, ecological and social transitions, both aimed at training tomorrow's professionals in the field of digital, ecological, social and energy transition.

‘Both master's degrees deal with transition processes for which new models and professions need to be developed,’ explains Rector Roberto Di Lenarda. ‘They are also multidisciplinary, because the ecological, energy and digital transition also requires legal and political preparation. They train professional figures with innovative specialisations in demand in the world of work and are complementary, focusing respectively on the energy transition and its integrated governance at EU level.’

Engineering for energy

An international novelty in the form of an interclass course with two curriculums: Sustainable: building design and technology and Sustainable industrial systems, it intends to offer advanced preparation in the field of energy transition in both the building and industrial fields.

Students will acquire design skills that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable and will know how to choose the most suitable technologies, materials, sources and energy vectors. They will be able to integrate building and energy systems with electricity grids, storage systems and sustainable mobility.

The fields in which the new figure will be able to move are diverse: freelance professionals and design offices operating in the fields of construction, thermal engineering, energy efficiency, production systems and use of energy carriers and renewable energy sources, companies and private public bodies in the process of adapting building systems and plants, industries for the production and management of energy components, plants and systems, industries operating in the production of building envelopes, companies that design, install and manage systems using energy carriers in the industrial, commercial and residential sectors, companies that provide services in the energy field, companies and public or private bodies that are obliged to appoint an energy manager and research bodies that develop projects related to energy transition.

Energy storage devices represent one of the enabling technologies for the transition to renewable energy sources. ELISA, an ad-hoc laboratory serving a multidisciplinary group of engineers, chemists, computer scientists, economists and social scientists, also enriches the Engineering for the energy transition degree course. ELISA complements two existing laboratories at the University of Trieste, dedicated to ‘Photovoltaics’ and ‘Smart Grid and Electric Mobility’, strategically increasing the university's ability to position itself among the most active research institutions in the field of renewable energy sources and sustainable mobility. ELISA has innovative instrumentation and offers platforms for rapid prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations. 

To access the Engineering for the energy transition course at the Department of Engineering and Architecture, students must hold one of the following qualifications: a three-year degree in the industrial or civil and environmental engineering classes; alternatively, they must have gained at least 18 credits (CFU) in the mathematics area, 9 credits in the physics area, 6 credits in the chemistry area, 6 credits in the electrical area, 6 credits in the energy area, 6 credits in the civil area or in architecture - 15 if the student intends to enrol in the Sustainable building design and technology curriculum. The student must also show a graduation mark of 95/110 or higher, otherwise they will have to undergo a cognitive interview. The course also requires knowledge of the English language at a level of at least B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference.

European Policies for digital, ecological and social transitions

Running from next September, the course aims to provide future generations with a multidisciplinary background in the governance of digital, ecological and social transitions.

Students, future civil servants in public administrations, project managers and consultants, will acquire advanced knowledge and skills in analysis, management and evaluation of European policies, programmes and projects, together with in-depth thematic knowledge on political, social and legal tools and mechanisms to govern, in an integrated way, aspects related to environmental sustainability, digital impacts, social cohesion (e.g. comparative law of the environment and digital technologies, analysis of open data and big data, participatory design techniques for sustainable and inclusive innovation). This combination of skills will make graduates of the course capable of using the tools and resources of the European Union in the most effective way to govern digital, ecological and social transitions.

There are also specific entry requirements for the course in European Policies for digital, ecological and social transitions at the Department of Political and Social Sciences. Students must hold one of the following degrees: a bachelor's degree in the classes of Political Science and International Relations, Administrative and Organisational Sciences, Economics, Social Sciences for Cooperation, Development and Peace; alternatively, they must have completed a total of 24 credits in Law, Economics and Statistics (at least 6 credits of the total 24), Political Science and Sociology. The course also requires knowledge of the English language at a level of at least B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference.

A research team led by the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) has once again harnessed very distant and energetic relativistic winds generated by a distant but definitely active quasar (one of the brightest discovered so far). A study published in The Astrophysical Journal reports the first observation at different wavelengths of the interaction between a black hole and its host galaxy quasar during the early stages of the Universe, some 13 billion years ago. In addition to the evidence of a gas storm generated by the black hole, the experts discovered for the first time a halo of gas extending far beyond the galaxy, suggesting the presence of material ejected from the galaxy itself through winds generated by the black hole.

The galaxy J0923+0402 is featured in the study, a galaxy far from earth with a quasar at its centre. To be precise, it has a redshift of z = 6.632, meaning the radiation we can observe on earth was emitted when the Universe was less than a billion years old. Quasar light (or quasi-stellar radio source) is produced when the galactic material surrounding the supermassive black hole gathers in an accretion disk. As the matter approaches the black hole and is then swallowed up by it, it heats up, emitting large amounts of bright radiation in both visible and ultraviolet light.

“The combined use of multi-band observations has allowed us to study the most distant quasar with a measurement of nuclear wind and the most extensive gas halo detected in remote epochs (about 50 thousand light years). This was done over a very wide range of spatial scales and from the most nuclear regions down to the circumgalactic medium,” explains Manuela Bischetti, first author of the study and researcher at INAF and the University of Trieste. 

The data described in the article is the result of the collaboration of research groups studying different frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum. First and foremost, the X-Shooter spectrograph, installed on the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), has captured bursts of matter known as BAL winds (broad absorption lines winds) capable of reaching relativistic speeds of up to tens of thousands of kilometres per second, measuring and calculating their characteristics. The powerful Chilean antennas of ALMA (ESO's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimetre Array) were activated to search for the counterpart in the cold gas of the BAL winds and to see if it extended beyond the scale of the galaxy, receiving frequencies from 242 to 257 GHz from the dawn of the Cosmos. 

The researcher points out: 'BALs are winds that are observed in the ultraviolet spectrum of the quasar, which, given their long distance from earth, we observe at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. We used the Very Large Telescope's X-Shooter spectrograph to make these observations. We had already discovered the BAL of this quasar two years ago, but the problem was that we could not quantify how energetic it was. This BAL wind is a hot gas wind (tens of thousands of degrees) moving at tens of thousands of km/s. At the same time, ALMA's millimetre-band observations allowed us to understand what is happening in and around the galaxy by observing what happens to the cold gas (a few hundred degrees). We found that the wind also extends to the scale of the galaxy, but expectedly has lower velocities of 500 km/s, since the wind decelerates as it expands. This helped us to theorise that this mega halo of gas was created by the material that the winds ejected from the galaxy'.

The position of the energy source was then 'immortalised' first by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), a giant camera installed on the Subaru telescope and developed by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and, more accurately, by the NIRCam, an infrared camera installed on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST of NASA, ESA and CSA space agencies). “This quasar will be observed again by the JWST in the future to better study both the wind and the halo,” Bischetti announced.

The researcher goes on to explain the reason for this survey: 'We wondered whether black hole activity could have an impact on the early stages of galaxy evolution, and through which mechanisms this might occur. The combination of multiband data ranging from optical and near-infrared to millimetre-band observations was highly successful, the former having been used to measure the properties of the black hole and what happens in the core of the galaxy and the latter to study what happens in and around the galaxy.” The measurements carried out “are routine in the local Universe, but these results have never been obtained before at redshift z>6,” he adds.

“Our study helps us understand how gas is ejected or captured by galaxies in the Young Universe and how black holes grow and can impact galaxy evolution. We know that the fate of galaxies such as the Milky Way is closely linked to that of black holes, as these can generate galactic storms that can extinguish the formation of new stars. Studying primordial epochs allows us to understand the initial conditions of the Universe we see today,' Bischetti concludes. 

The article ‘Multi-phase black-hole feedback and a bright [CII] halo in a Lo-BAL quasar at z∼6.6’, by Manuela Bischetti, Hyunseop Choi, Fabrizio Fiore, Chiara Feruglio, Stefano Carniani, Valentina D'Odorico, Eduardo Bañados, Huanqing Chen, Roberto Decarli, Simona Gallerani, Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, Samuel Lai, Karen M. Leighly, Chiara Mazzucchelli, Laurence Perreault-Levasseur, Roberta Tripodi, Fabian Walter, Feige Wang, Jinyi Yang, Maria Vittoria Zanchettin, Yongda Zhu, was published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The study Self-assembling dendrimer nanosystems for specific fluorine MRI and effective theranostic treatment of tumours has been published in the scientific journal PNAS. Among the researchers is Sabrina Pricl, associate professor of Chemical Engineering, scientific director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Nanotechnology at the University of Trieste and head of the international collaboration COST Cancer Nanomedicine - from the bench to the bedside. Erik Laurini, associate professor at UniTS, co-authored the study. 

In a world first, the research group have analysed and developed a new imaging system based on the use of fluorinated contrast agents. The system, aimed at early diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases (even in their most invasive and aggressive forms), outperforms traditional hydrogen-based nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Since water, and therefore hydrogen, constitute more than 70 per cent our body weight, classic MRI often has limitations in identifying differences between diseased tissue and surrounding tissue, especially for very small tumours. On the other hand, the use of fluorine-based contrast agents, which are not naturally present in human tissue, appears very promising. Precisely because of the absence of fluorine in most biological systems, it has the potential to provide clearer, more specific and resolute images compared to traditional techniques.

The use of fluorine MRI has so far been limited due to the lack of safe imaging agents, which are often characterised by limitations such as low signal-to-noise ratio, low fluorine content or instability or insolubility in water. Researchers, for the first time, have been able to create effective, efficient and non-toxic fluorine-based contrast agents.

Among the distinguishing features of the molecules designed by the researchers (nanosystems of self-assembled dendrimers) is their ability to perform multiple functions. More specifically, they belong to the category of teragnostics, since they are able to perform the function of diagnosis and therapy at the same time. Once the tumour has been detected, the molecules can be used to monitor its progress and release the appropriate therapy drug on site.

‘Interest in the use of fluorine MRI with fluorinated imaging agents is growing. Such nanosystems of teragnostic dendrimers represent the future in the field of personalised medicine. Being able to record and monitor the progress or regression of a tumour and at the same time continue to treat the disease is a real accomplishment in terms of therapeutic outcome and treatment endurance, which as a consequence are less invasive, toxic or harmful, while fully respecting patients,' explains Prof. Pricl.

The University of Trieste took part in the following phases: molecular design and engineering, performance computing, analysis and experimentation.

Among the funders were also AIRC, Cinema and ICSC, National Research Centre in HPC, Big Data and Quantum Computing.