: The goal of the Ph.D. program is to provide the foundation to train researchers capable of conducting experimental and clinical research in the field of hepato-gastroenterology (HGE). It will be achieved by providing doctoral students with theoretical-practical, experimental and clinical training courses that enable them to apply laboratory and experimental methodologies to research projects aimed at solving etiopathogenetic, diagnostic and therapeutic problems in the HGE field. The doctoral program is aimed at graduates in medicine and disciplines in the area of iological and life sciences.Doctoral students in the three-year course will gain independence in conducting scientific research aimed at the area of the digestive system (DS) in humans and in experimental models under normal and pathological conditions. Projects of a predominantly clinical nature will be addressed in the Experimental and Clinical Hepatology curriculum, and those of a predominantly surgical nature in the Surgical Pathophysiology and Gastroenterology curriculum.The faculty exhibits high hepatology/gastroenterology/surgical expertise in clinical anatomy, cellular and molecular biology, clinical and therapeutics, and scientific collaborations with qualified national and international institutions leading to high quality scientific production that characterizes the Ph.D. and ensures both the training and periodic mobility of the Ph.D. student. The institutions involved are: Liver Unit, Yale University, New Haven, USA; Texas A&MUniversity, Temple, USA; Center for Liver Research, Indiana University, USA; Unité "T. Starzl,"Université de Leuven, B; Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, S; Western University - Birmingham, UK; Edinburgh niversity, UK; North Carolina University, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. The purpose of the Ph.D. is purely interdisciplinary. Main educational objectives: - Knowledge of the cellular/molecular basis of the development and progression of EGE diseases. - Learning of biomolecular, histomorphologic, histocyte-immunohistochemical, ultrastructural methodologies for the study of HGE damage/repair - Design and development of research projects aimed at i) identifying mechanisms and agents underlying the regulation of cell death/proliferation in HGE for the development of new therapies; ii) development of undifferentiated cell cultures that can be used for transplantation in experimental models and in humans; (iii) to deepen the Settore Dottorato di Ricerca pathophysiological knowledge of DS diseases with special emphasis on neoplastic diseases and following surgical procedures and/or transplantation; (iv) to deepen the genetic-molecular knowledge of immune and neuroendocrine mechanisms during endocrine disorders to develop innovative therapeutic approaches and modern surgical techniques (minimally invasive, radioimmunoguided, etc.)