APCOM

Since April 1st Milano Bicocca University is taking part in an ambitious project called 'UNICELLSYS', whose aim is to achieve a deeper understanding of the key characteristics of the eukaryotic unicellular organism biology through the computational simulations of dynamic mathematical models. The plan, which is going to last for five years, has been financed by the European Union with an investment of 11.7 million euros and involves 17 research centres.

The leading one is that of Gothenburg University, while the others are spread all over the continent: Denmark, Germany, Holland, England, Switzerland, Austria and, of course, Italy. The scientific responsible for the Milanese athenaeum is biochemistry professor, Lilia Alberghina, who's also managing the Bicocca Centre of Excellence for Industrial Biotechnologies.

The consortium's investigation takes place within the Systems Biology area, a relatively young field that studies the ways through which genes and molecules interact inside cells, so to determine the properties of the cells themselves and of the whole organism. The project will deliver new knowledge on fundamental eukaryotic biology as well as tools for quantitative experimentation and modelling and it will surely have a major impact on the personalization of illnesses' medical treatment and the development of biotechnological processes.