22 April 2026
“Building the future of human health, together”: Human Technopole’s new claim was the central theme of the event held this morning at the Senate of the Republic. The conference “Human Technopole Foundation: a model of open research and innovation in the life sciences” provided an opportunity to present the third biennial Report to Parliament for 2024–2025, marking the Foundation’s definitive transition to a new phase of maturity.
Four years after the opening of its first laboratories, Human Technopole is no longer just a start-up: it is now a true scale-up of Italian research in the field of life sciences. The Foundation, conceived as a strategic investment in the field of medicine and health, is expanding rapidly and is introducing a new way of conducting research, one that is interdisciplinary and synergistic with the Italian life sciences ecosystem.
Building the future of human health: research at HT
Alongside the previously established research areas in genomics, neurogenomics, health data science, structural and computational biology, from 2024 the Foundation has expanded its scientific scope to include three new strategic areas: molecular cell biology, biophysical modelling and simulations, and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, through five interdisciplinary programmes that bring together expertise and technologies to tackle some of the major contemporary biomedical challenges, the Foundation studies cardiometabolic, oncological and neurodegenerative diseases and contributes to the development of preventive and precision medicine.
To date, HT boasts a community of 401 researchers from 39 countries, including 84 Italians who have returned from abroad; 678 scientific publications; and €31.5 million in competitive funding, including 6 ERC grants, 8 EMBO grants, 7 Horizon Europe grants, 6 AIRC grants and 7 MSCA grants.
The President of the Human Technopole Foundation Gianmario Verona states: “These figures paint a clear picture: we have entered a new phase of maturity and are positioning ourselves as an innovative model for the whole of Europe. Our approach is capable of integrating cutting-edge research, advanced training and state-of-the-art technologies, able to develop synergies with the entire Italian system and create applications in prevention, diagnosis and therapies.”
Building together: the role of the National Facilities
The National Facilities, inaugurated in June 2024, represent one of the distinctive features of the Human Technopole model: a network of high-tech infrastructure serving both in-house research and the Italian scientific community, making cutting-edge expertise, equipment and methods accessible.
A total of 239 research projects were granted access to the National Facilities as of December 2025 following evaluation by the independent international commission led by Prof. Filippo Mancia of Columbia University Medical Center. The beneficiary are researchers, from universities, IRCCS and public research bodies across 16 different Italian regions, supported by the technical and scientific staff of the National Facilities, who guided them from project design through to data analysis.
Marino Zerial, Director of the Human Technopole Foundation, emphasises: “Human Technopole is developing a unique capacity to understand the complexity of living systems through a structured model of interdisciplinary research across multiple biological scales. The National Facilities represent a strategic enabler of this approach, aimed at accelerating biomedical research and technology transfer. The aim is to generate value for the entire national system through the development and sharing of cutting-edge technologies and advanced training opportunities.”
Among the approved projects are: large-scale studies analysing the DNA of thousands of individuals to determine risk factors associated with various types of cancer, research into rare and neurodegenerative diseases, and investigations into fundamental biological processes and evolution.
Data on the use of the Facilities confirm the breadth of activities: 45% of projects concerned genomics, 28% structural biology, whilst optical microscopy, genome editing and disease models each accounted for 10%, followed by data management and analysis (7%).
The conference “Human Technopole Foundation: a model for open research and innovation in the life sciences”
In accordance with the 2020 Budget Law and hosted by Senator for Life Prof. Elena Cattaneo, the event provided an opportunity to discuss the Human Technopole’s open model for research and innovation in life sciences. Following the opening remarks by the three founding Ministries (Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of University and Research and Ministry of Health) and those of the Vice-President of the Senate,Senator Licia Ronzulli, speeches were given by the President of the Human Technopole Foundation, Prof. Gianmario Verona, and the Director of the Human Technopole Foundation, Prof. Marino Zerial. Subsequently, Prof. Filippo Mancia, Chair of the Standing Independent Evaluation Committee (CIVP) and Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, went into detail regarding the procedures for accessing the National Facilities. Prof. Giuseppe Remuzzi, Director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research (IRCCS) and a user of the National Facilities, brought the perspective of the national research system. Dr Igor de Biasio, CEO of Principia SpA, represented MIND Milano Innovation District. The event was moderated by journalist and television presenter Laura Chimenti.
The event is available on the Senate of the Republic Youtube channel (Senato 5). Full programme, photographs and list of speakers are available on Human Technopole website.
