Let’s call it the “Italian miracle”: the genetics of our country is a world-class excellence, despite the few operational structures, the limited resources invested, the few professors and researchers hired, and the sea of precarious workers at work. On paper we would be justified in being among the “worst”, but the reality is that the work of our scientists is among the most appreciated, so much so that their publications are among the 10% of the most cited ones worldwide. This is probably why today Italy can boast of hosting the most important and prestigious international scientific event dedicated to genetics, the Human Genome Meeting 2024which opens today in Rome at the Sapienza University.
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Among the globally renowned geneticists, clinicians and researchers hosted, the names of “sacred monsters” stand out. As Mike Snyderdirector of Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine from Stanford University School of Medicine, a pioneer in functional genomics and among the first to develop “omics” technologies. The work of the American scientist has made combined analyzes of DNA, RNA, proteins and metabolites possible to evaluate the risk of disease and monitor pathological states in personalized medicine.
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Among the excellent guests there is also Sir Walter Bodmer, an Oxford geneticist who has made important contributions to the study of human population genetics, gene mapping and cancer genetics, and to our understanding of the human tissue typing system. Bodmer helped discover the human leukocyte antigen system, vital to successful organ and bone marrow transplants. Among the speakers also two Italian excellences: Alessandro Aiutideputy director of the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) and full professor of Pediatrics at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, and Luigi Naldinidirector of SR-Tiget and full professor of Histology and Gene and Cell Therapy at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, two scientists who with their studies are revolutionizing the therapy of diseases that were until recently considered incurable.
“It is truly a pride to have the best of world genetics here today in Italy”, he admits with emotion Giuseppe Novellifull professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Tor Vergata Rome and president of the HGM 2024 Scientific Committee. “It is the first time ever that Italy hosts an event of this magnitude. Before Rome, the meeting was held in the city such as Houston, Barcelona, Seoul, Perth and Tel Aviv, which notoriously invest a lot in genetic research. The truth is that Italian genetics – he continues – is a world-class excellence: we are in the top 10% of the most cited publications and our researchers are involved in almost all the most important and prestigious international collaborations”.
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But at the same time Italian genetics are few. In his opening speech at the congress Novelli illustrates the numbers of the Italian paradox: “In our country there are only 26 schools of specialization in genetic medicine; 138 Medical Genetics Units in hospitals and universities, where diagnostics are also carried out, when for example in France there are 313 of them; 50 full professors of Medical Genetics, 74 associate professors, 70 researchers and an unknown number of temporary workers. So – he continues – who are all these Italians who publish and are cited? They are an army of temporary researchers and poorly paid.”
It is therefore not surprising that many of these “abused” brains, at a certain point in their “non-career” in Italy, decide to seek their fortune elsewhere by moving abroad. “We must do something, and do it immediately, to prevent Italy from losing the important opportunity to remain excellent in a branch of science that is literally revolutionizing medicine”, concludes Novelli.
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