News

Fluid Mechanics

18 March 2023

Ugo Gianazza, professor of Mathematics at the University of Pavia and a former of the Department of Mathematics, will give a Course in College on Mathematical Topics in Fluid Mechanics and Applications. The Course is addressed to MSc students in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering and Chemistry and College students enrolled in these course are welcome to participate.

The poster of this lecture series is available here. A list of key topics to be covered in the course is available on the poster itself.

Image
Courtesy of CJ Howland (University of Cambridge).

The Cell Powerhouse

12 March 2023

 

On Thursday the 9th of March Marco Sandri of the Department of Biomedical Science of the University of Padua has given a College seminar entitled The Mitochondria, a Cellular Central Hub. The seminar provided a comprehensive account of the role of mitochondria in cell physiology and discussed how changes in mitochondrial function play a critical role in ageing and a number of disease conditions. The poster of the seminar is available here. Further information details of the seminar and a biographical sketch of the speaker are available at this page.

College Mid Year Assembly

12 March 2023

 

On Tuesday the 7th of March the College held its mid year Assembly. This Assembly, the first one after the Covid pandemic, was under-attendend (only 40-50 students were in attendance) but offers the opportunity to review the work of College members at the end of semester 1 and the work that remains to be done in order to ensure that most - if not all - students of Volta reach the credits and marks required by EDiSU, University and Ministry.  One of the outcomes of the Assembly is a new round of interviews, to be held before the Easter holiday - with approximately 30 students who have underperformed in semester 1 in order to discuss with them the necessary remedial actions.

College Interviews

09 January 2023

 

The significance of semester one acacemic results cannot be overemphasised and College data are clear proof that students who fail to secure the expected credits and marks do so because of poor semester one results.

The College Director thus wishes to meet all College freshers and selected other students ahead of semester one examinations in order to discuss and review individual study plans.

The majority of these semester one interviews will take place during the week starting on January 9th and in the first half of the week starting on January 16th.

Updated Covid-19 Rules

02 January 2023

On 31 December 2022 the Italian Ministry of Health has released updated Covid-19 rules.  The rules, contained in Ministry of Health Circolare 51961 have reached College via the Office of the President of EDiSU and have been forwarded to all College members in Italian and Englsh.  College students are requested to follow the new ruiles strictly and pay due attention to item (vi).

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Updated Covid-19 Rules. 31 December 2022.

(i) Students reporting a positive Covid-19 antigen test with modest or no clinical symptoms must isolate for 5 days nevertheless before resuming community life. It is recommended that they undergo a new antigen test on day 5 - although they are not obliged to do so under current rules. They may end isolation even before the 5th day if they present College with a negative test carried out by a certifying laboratory/chemist.

(ii) Students known to be immunodeficient or undergoing immunosuppressive treatment must isolate for a minimum 5 days after a positive antigen test,  must be asymptomatic for at least 2 days before and must present a negative antigen or PCR test before resuming community life.

(iii)  Students returning to Italy and College from the People's Republic of China and displaying a positive antigen test must follow rules listed under paragraph (ii).

(iv) Students of all categories at the end of self-isolation must wear FFP2-type face masks up to day from the onset of symptoms or the first positive antigen test - whichever the earliest. They must also avoid crowded environments and direct contact with College members deemed to be high-risk individuals.
 
(v) Students who come in contact with members of College subsequently reporting a positive antigen test must exert a self-surveillance and self-restraint regime, during which they wear FFP2-type face masks and avoid large gatherings for at least 5 days. They must also undertake an antigen test without delay if they develop symptoms, however mild.

(vi) Students with any history of Covid-related symptoms or positive testing must offer full and prompt notification and details to the College Director and the College Office.


Image: SARS-CoV-2 RNA-directed RNA polymerase, courtesy of the Protein Data Bank https://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/249

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Modelling the Immune Sytem

11 December 2022

On the 13h of December at 4.30 pm the Francesco Pappalardo from the Department of Drug and Health Sciences at the University of Catania will give a seminar in the College Lecture Theatre entitled Modelling cellular and molecular interactions within the immune system.  The seminar will describe new computer-based approaches for modelling complex cellular and molecular networs and will exemplify its potential by modelling the immune network. The poster of the seminar ias available here.

Understanding complex cellular network and their underlying molecular networks is crucial in order to unravel the biology of multicellar organisms and the biology of disease proceses and there is increasing evidence that computer-modelling now has the potential to offer descriptions of these processes valuable for drug discovery. The seminar therefore will be of special interest to College students reading Medicine, Biology, Biotehnology and Pharmaceytical Sciences but all College students are warmly invited to atttend. Further information about the seminar, including an abstract and a short biographical sketch of the speaker, can be found at this page.

Image: An example of a molecular immune network. From Shilts J et al. Nature 608:397, 2022.

Gender Violence

09 November 2022

On the 17th of November at 6.30 pm the College will host a seminar in the College Lecture Theatre entitled Preventing and contrasting gender-based violence. A conversation with the staff of Anti-violence Centre LiberaMente.  The seminar is the second of a series of four meetings devoted to women's iissue and has been organised by Dunia Lisa Seck (African and Asian Studies) and Marianna Parise (Visual and Performing Arts) both at Collegio Golgi and it. The poster of the seminar ias available here.

Gender-based violence is pervasive and shows little or no evidence of abating. It includes simple threats, coercion, bodily harm and in a number of instances can lead to iviolent death.  Although the occurrence and extent of gender-based violence varies signifcantly across different cultures and religions, it is clear that no society or social class is immune from this problem. Gender-based violence is unquestionably one of the commonest - if not the commonest - violation of human rights across the world.

College is grateful to Dunia and Marianna for sharing this seminar with the students of Collegio Volta an for bringing into focus the work of the local staff and volunteers of LiberaMente, a not-for profit agency commited to fight gender-based violence that has been active in Pavia for over 25 years. 

All College students are warmly invited to atttend the seminar.

Image: Courtesy of Building and Wood Workers' International.

College Security

30 October 2022

A serious incident has occurred at the EDiSU residential hall 'Paolo Borsellino' of the University of Turin during the night in which a female student has been attacked by a stranger who entered the residence. The student is currently in hospital and, based on a statement by Stefano Lo Russo, mayor of the city of Turin, the attacker is still on the loose.

The incident highlights the essential need for students' security, a problem particularly acute at Collegio A Volta a building fundamentally insecure and thus extremely vulnerable to intrusions and potential attacks by outsiders.

The College demands the full cooperation of its students to prevent strangers from entering the building through doors left open on the ground floor and will take any further and necessary measure in oder to enforce security and protect College students from falling victims of acts of violence by strangers.

Image: the Hall of Residence Paolo Borsellino at the University of Turin.

Library Support

22 October 2022

Library support in College will start on Monday the 24ht of October and will be provided by College students Nicola Loizzo, Francesca Veneziani and Ines Shop who provide the service . Members of Volta are able to borrow books from the library by contacting the library service at this email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and should return the book undamaged within the date specified at the start of the loan. 

Any problem with access to the library service should be reported to the College director. The College thanks Nicola Loizzo, Francesca Veneziani and Ines Shopi for their work in support of the College library.

Image: the JTM Needham College library (photograph by former Volta undergraduate S Tondi).

Cancer Vaccines

17 October 2022

On Tuesday the 18th October  2022 at 5.00 pm, Pier-Luigi Lollini of the Laboratory of Immunology and Biology of Metastasis at the University of Bologna will give a seminar entitled Vaccines for the prevention and therapy of mammary carcinomas. The development of preventive and therapeutic vaccines is a major area of cancer research.

The seminar will offer an insight into the field and will present recent research on vaccines for breast cancer.  All College students are invited to attend, especially students reading Medicine, Biology and Biotechnology. The poster of the seminar is available here. The abstract of the seminar and a biographical sketch of the seminar speaker are available at this page

Image
A three dimensional culture of mammary cancer cells. Courtesy of Kelvin Yip, Monash University.

 






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