Gianni Prosseda and Alessandro Paiardini of the Departments of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin" and Biochemical Sciences "A. Rossi Fanelli" are in the team of the Holo-GT project, funded by the European Research Council with a budget of about 2.5 million euros.

The ERC Advanced Grant is a prestigious award for outstanding scientific projects and is for researchers who have an advanced record of research activity in a specific field.

The Holo-GT project, presented by Michele De Luca of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, aims to produce a new genetically modified epidermis entirely "made" in the laboratory. The ultimate aim is to tackle genetic diseases of the skin and other skin coverings that are not yet treatable with currently available technologies, such as dominant forms of epidermolysis bullosa and, in the future, other dominantly transmitted genetic diseases affecting other epithelia such as the cornea.

The project brings together the complementary skills of two groups of Italian researchers and the spin-off Holostem Terapie Avanzate of Modena, Italy. Specifically, this revolutionary approach to gene therapy combines the use of epidermal stem cell reprogramming technologies, area of competence of our University and the spin-off of Modena, with innovative experimental and computational methodologies, Sapienza expertise, to overcome the limitations that currently exist in so-called gene editing, a technique capable of rewriting DNA.