The research platform brings together three laboratories that will work to accelerate knowledge on neurological diseases

LEARN Lab, MIND Lab and BraiNs Lab are the three new joint laboratories of Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta and Politecnico di Milano aiming to provide answers on neurological diseases and discover new therapies: the two institutions put their specific expertise in the Joint Research Platform to develop common projects with the aim of speeding up research on neurological diseases.

The official presentation of the three laboratories and working groups was held in the Scientific Library of Istituto Besta in the presence of President Andrea Gambini, Director-General Angelo Cordone and Scientific Director Giuseppe Lauria Pinter, as well as of Politecnico representatives Isabella Nova, Executive Vice Rector, and Pierangelo Metrangolo, Full Professor of Chemical Foundations of Technology. Guest of the event was Alessandro Fermi, Councillor for University, Research, Innovation of Regione Lombardia.

«For years, Besta and Politecnico have been working synergistically on national and European research projects, the results of which have led to important scientific publications and joint patents. The establishment of these laboratories will make it possible to combine the technological and computational skills of Politecnico with the biological skills of our neuroscientists in a structured manner» explained Prof. Giuseppe Lauria Pinter.

«Today a long-term collaboration between Politecnico di Milano and Besta is reinforced, which in recent years have jointly invested in the development of technologies applied to neuroscience. This collaboration will lead to the creation of entirely new health and engineering profiles straddling frontier disciplines such as nanotechnology, gene therapy, artificial intelligence and digital innovation applied to the fields of health and engineering» commented Prof. Pierangelo Metrangolo.

The laboratories will be located at Istituto Besta and will each be jointly directed by one researcher per institution, with a dual affiliation. 

This is what the three labs will be about: 

• LEARN lab - Laboratory of E-Health Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Research in Neurology, presented and directed by researchers Simona Ferrante from Politecnico and Domenico Acquino from Besta, will create digital solutions for the decentralised assessment and monitoring of patients suffering from neurological diseases. It will use Artificial Intelligence algorithms to identify neurophysiological, neuroradiological and clinical biomarkers contributing to the process of differential diagnosis and individual therapies. 
• MIND lab - Laboratory of coMputational multI-omics of Neurological Disorders, presented and directed by researchers Marco Masseroli from Politecnico and Erika Salvi from Besta, will apply innovative computational approaches for the integration of data originating from genomic analyses useful for the innovative classification of patients with neurological disorders and the identification of diagnostic and predictive biomarkers of individual biological responses. 
• BraiNs Lab - Brain-targeted Nanotechnologies, presented and directed by researchers Gabriele Candiani of Politecnico and Stefania Marcuzzo of Besta, will develop new advanced therapeutic approaches for the treatment of neurological diseases using nanotechnologies for transporting medicines, genes and cell organelles in the nervous system.