The proposal of establishing the Department of Molecular Medicine (DMM) was arisen from the Academic personnel belonging to the biology and medical areas of the University of Pavia. The reasons and the objectives of such a proposal, that are described in the Manifesto below, represented the bases for the formal request of establishment of the Department of Molecular Medicine.
The Department of Molecular Medicine aims to aggregate researchers interested in the study of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of physiological phenomena, and the pathogenetic bases of diseases with the aim of defining the structure and function of molecules of biological interest, of identifying molecular and genetic defects involved in pathological processes and of developing, on this basis, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools. Stem cell research and regenerative medicine will play an important role in this. The teachers of the Department will integrate the curricular activity and the experimental and clinical research with a strong orientation towards therapeutic phenomena and interventions, at the cellular and molecular level. The Department of Molecular Medicine deems inseparable the activity of research and teaching, thereof will propose to the students of the Faculty of Medicine courses characterized by a strong attention to the bio-molecular aspects of physiological and pathological phenomena, of medical diagnosis and therapy.
Molecular and cellular approaches have been successfully used in the study of pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy of hereditary and blood/oncological diseases and is now extending to the study of degenerative, multigenic and multifactorial pathologies, often associated with aging, such as cardiovascular diseases and chronic pulmonary diseases. A similar approach and experimental logic have also given important impetus to the systematic study of the mechanisms underlying biological phenomena in areas such as the structure-function relationship of proteins and its control, the intracellular signaling pathways responsible for the plasticity of the protein content of the cells and their gene regulation.
The proponents of the Department of Molecular Medicine include clinical researchers, Cardiologists, Haematologists and Pneumologists, who have strongly developed these molecular aspects and their transfer into clinical practice. Other researchers are engaged in genetic diagnostics, anatomopathological studies and biochemistry, and researchers dedicated to the study of the molecular bases of physiological and pathological processes and clinical/medical biochemistry.
As proposed by Prof. Mario Cazzola, it is desirable that the Department of Molecular Medicine should promote a broad aggregation of multidisciplinary forces and skills that can flow into a University Center of research and teaching, diagnosis and advanced therapy, also exploiting the opportunities of the new medical campus. It is an ambitious project that will require the contribution and enthusiasm of all. The teachers of the Constituent Department of Molecular Medicine are therefore firmly convinced that the new Department can produce an important contribution to the scientific growth and development of the Faculty of Medicine and to the University of Pavia in the new horizons created by the university reform (Law 240/2010), but, above all, in line with the scientific development of the most advanced Countries in the training of the new generations of doctors and researchers.