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Istituto di ricerche farmacologiche "Mario Negri" (IRFMN)

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Via Mario Negri, 2, Milano, Italy


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Blog postJul 4, 2024

Childhood Obesity is a public health emergency that can be prevented starting from schools: the Lively project for families, children and teachers


The Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research (Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, IRFMN) is a private, not-for-profit biomedical research organization. It was established in Milan in 1961 and later (1984) opened research units in Bergamo.

The Institute is committed to health advocacy and human life. About 700 among the researchers and support staff are active at the Milan headquarters, in Bergamo (Centro Anna Maria Astori), and in Ranica (Centro Aldo e Cele Daccò).

Participant in the spoke

People involved

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Roberta Pastorelli

Head of Laboratory

Carlotta Franchi

Cortinovis Monica

Emilio Benfenati

The Organization Profile

The Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research (Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, IRFMN, www.marionegri.it) is a private, not-for-profit biomedical research organization.

It was established in Milan in 1961 and later (1984) opened research units in Bergamo. The Institute is committed to health advocacy and human life. About 700 among the researchers and support staff are active at the Milan headquarters, in Bergamo (Centro Anna Maria Astori, located in the Kilometro Rosso Science and Technology Park), and in Ranica (Centro Aldo e Cele Daccò). IRFMN's research programs, distributed among 11 departments and more than 50 laboratories, span from the molecular level to the whole human being, with the aim to prompt research from bench to bed and back in order to improve human and public health. The main research headings are the fight against cancer, nervous system and mental illnesses, cardiovascular and kidney diseases, rare diseases, toxic effects of environmental contaminants, food safety, mother and child’s health.

Research Projects

IRFMN has been involved in more than 150 EU-funded grants (FP5, FP6, FP7, LIFE, H2020, Horizon Europe, etc.), 30 of them as coordinator, and its researchers are still active in initiatives funded under the major Italian and EU funding schemes.

Within the conceptual and research framework of this proposal, and with a particular focus on the themes dealt with the spokes where IRFMN is actively involved, our institute will contribute with different but complementary expertise in the field of food science, ranging from preclinical to clinical skills. In particular, researchers with proven experience in innovative in silico tools, advanced analytical methods, molecular, biological and omics approaches will be involved. In addition, the project will also benefit from IRFMN 'experts in the development of clinical (including educational) and observational studies.

The Interdisciplinary Approach

The IRFMN laboratories brings together a strong interdisciplinary team involving researchers from several different and complementary areas of food research (physicians, pharmacologists, epidemiologists, biologists, nutritionists, chemists, toxicologists, biostatisticians, bioinformaticians, bioengineers, physicists and clinical research assistants) with multi-year knowledge and skills for the planning, design, coordination and analysis of national and international multicentre experimental and clinical projects. The wide number of competitive projects completed and of those successfully applied for competitive grants confirm the capacity of the team to conduct them with an interdisciplinary, holistic and problem-solving approach. The problem-solving attitudes have been established in several research activities with private companies, where the skills required spanned from chemical, technological, biological, epidemiological, clinical issues.

Research Collaborations

Many active collaborations of the IRFMN with several national and international public and private institutions and companies, working in the area of food has been developed by IRFMN in the last years.

Furthermore, IRFMN developed many research collaborations with relevant national and international universities building an important network of academic institutes to study food science. One of the most prominent collaboration with private company is that with the R&D of Bolton Food SpA, whose research goals are to demonstrate that canned fish could be a component of a healthy and sustainable diet, by assessing the benefit of canned fish consumption on human health and by working on the identification of strategies aimed at decreasing the fish waste along the production process. Another long-lasting collaboration with private company is that with Perfetti Van Melle SPA, in which the role of IRFMN was to scientifically support: 1) the design and development of new functional candies/chewing gums; 2) the safety evaluation of ingredients and additives, with particular attention to nanoparticle and nanoplastics contamination, 3) the improvement of the quality of the products, reducing the sugar content and the risk of caries development.