On Thursday, February 23, 2023, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities hosted the Life Science Excellence Hub Results & Awards event. Sixteen strategic projects dedicated to life sciences and carried out by universities, research organisations and numerous local companies were presented as part of the 'Lazio Regional Operational Programme 2014-2019.

The projects were produced by the Life Science Excellence Hub (LSEH) network, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, of which Sapienza is the lead partner and which also involves the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, the Italian National Research Council, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the Italian Institute of Technology and the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome.

The event was attended by the partner universities' Rectors, the Presidents of the research organisations involved or their delegates, representatives from Lazio Innova and the Lazio Region, and the scientific project manager for Sapienza, Domenico Alvaro.

During the meeting, Sapienza's Deputy Rector for Research, Maria Sabrina Sarto, coordinated a panel discussion illustrating the activities of the Life Science Excellence Hub.

LSEH research and development projects aim to disseminate and transfer the knowledge gained by scientific institutions within the region's productive fabric.

Some of these are aimed at creating miniaturised devices for the early and non-invasive diagnosis of diseases, injuries or infections (such as electrochemical immunosensors for the detection of gastrointestinal pathologies, optical cavity microscopy analysis for the evaluation of deep skin lesions, integrated microbiological diagnosis for sepsis), others are designed for the continuous and real-time monitoring of the health of individuals, especially the most fragile ones.

The researchers' interest is largely directed towards the enhancement of innovative systems to improve the care of the elderly and frail individuals: the "Service Robot", thanks to specific cognitive and interactional skills, perceives the surrounding environment, physically interacts with the patient, and monitors improvements; some projects work directly on the home environment (sensors, telemedicine, voice assistant, IoT - Internet of Things - and computer vision) making it a virtual caregiver for the elderly and frail individuals.

Please click on the Italian version of this page for more.