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Southern Lights

01 May 2019

Each year many people travel to Norway or Sweden to enjoy the sight of 'northern lights' (aurora borealis). The sight of these beautiful lights leaves a permanent memory in the thousands of visitors who travel north in order to enjoy this unique spectacle of Nature

Since last week Collegio Volta offers a night sight that stands on a par with the northern lights.  EDiSU has reinstated the lights on the College south front after a long period of darkness and College is  celebrating evening the stunning spectacle of Volta's 'southern lights'.

The College is very grateful to the M Aramini, Director General of EDiSU, for having rescued this project from obvlivion and provided lighting that greatly enhances the safety and security of College undergraduates who live and work in the South wing.

Image: an artistic representation of the 'southern lights'  of Collegio Volta.

 

 

 

 

 

M Fraccaro Lecture 2018/19

31 March 2019

On the 8th of April at 5.00 pm Harald zur Hausen of the German Cancer Institute in Heidelberg will deliver the 2018/19 M Fraccaro lecture entitled Infectious Causes of Human Cancerin the main University lecture hall (Aula Magna) in Strada Nuova. The M Fraccaro lecture is organised on an annual basis jointly by Collegio A Volta and Collegio Cairoli where M Fraccaro served as a College Director for nearly 35 years.

H zur Hausen, the 2018/19 M Fraccaro lecturer, has made seminal contributions to the discovery of infectious agents causing human cancer through his pioneering work on Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV) and their roles as causal agents of cervical cancer and several other types of tumours. H zur Hausen's work led to the development of an HPV vaccine which is widely and successfully used in order to prevent HPV infection and thus cancer.  For this work H zur Hausen was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2008. The poster of the lecture can be downloaded here. More information about H zur Hausen and his achieve,ents can be found on this page.

An informal reception will take place at 6.00 pm at Collegio Cairoli after the lecture open to all interested students and staff. An informal debate between H zur Hausen and interested students will take place at 6.30 pm in the lecture theatre of Collegio Cairoli.

 

 

 

 

 

The Hiv-1 Tat Vaccine

23 March 2019

On the 11th of April 2019 Barbara Ensoli, of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, will give a seminar entitled Vaccines: The Hiv-1 Tat Vaccine at 10.30 am in Lecture Theatre 7 of Polo didattico di Ingegneria.  In her talk B Ensoli will review the history and challenges of Hiv-1 vaccine research and will focus on her own work on the development of a therapeutic Hiv-1 vaccine targeting Tat. The poster of the lecture can be downloaded here. Further information about the seminar including a short biographical sketch and the abstract of the talk can be found on this page. All College students are warmly invited to participate.

 

 

 

 

 

Vaccine Controversies

23 March 2019

On the 26th of March 2019 Andrea Grignolio, of Università San Raffaele, will give a seminar entitled Vaccines: Are they worth a shot at 3.00 pm in Lecture Theatre 7 of Polo didattico di Ingegneria.   A Grignolio will discuss the origin and development of vaccine controversies and will highlight the importance of searching for common ground and a common language between the scientists and the skeptics in order to overcome avoidable illness and death.  More information about the seminar can be found on this web page and the poster of the lecture can be downloaded here. All College students are warmly invited to participate.

 

 

 

 

 

Collegio Cairoli

18 March 2019

Collegio A Volta is delighted to read that Collegio Cairoli has gained 'Collegio di Merito' status from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Resarch (MIUR).  The decision of MIUR acknowledges current work under College director Andrea Zatti, the strong input in College life that the Alumni Society has made throughout the years and the strong foundations built at Cairoli by Marco Fraccaro, College director for over thirty years and a distinguished professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pavia. Collegio A Volta and Collegio Cairoli organise a major, annual lecture to honour the life and work of M Fraccaro,  details of which can be found on the web pages of both Colleges.   

 

 

 

 

 

Drug Discovery

06 February 2019

The first meeting of the Idea Centre, a new, collaborative research initiative will take place in the College lecture theatre on the 6th and 7th of February 2019.  The new Centre aims to foster collaborations between scientists at the University of Pavia and at Scuola Normale in Pisa in the areas of Drug Discovery and protein engineering, especially Antibody Engineering.

This is a major area of research for both the University of Pavia and Scuola Normale and further information about the scope of the meeting and the Centre can be found at this page. The poster of the lecture can be downloaded here.  All College students are invited to attend, especially students of Biology, Chemistry and Medical Courses.

Image: A drug-like small molecule. Courtesy of the FDA Group.

 

 

 

 

Collegi Universitari

05 February 2019

EDiSU, the governing body of Collegio A Volta and ten further Colleges at the University of Pavia, has promoted an important one-day meeting in Milan about the role of the Colleges in University life and education.  The meeting, whose full title is I Collegi Universitari. Un'eredità per il Futuro, will address past history as well as present and future roles of residential Colleges in University education. It will focus in the first instance the history and work of the Colleges of the University of Pavia and Università Cattolica of Università in MIlan but will also include presentations about the role of the Colleges in Universities abroad including Cambridge and Yale. A broad discussion about the future of the Colleges in the Italian University system will take place in the final part of the meeting.

All College students are invited to attend this meeting. The poster of the meeting can be found and downloaded at this page. 

Image: Collegio P Fraccaro, one of the eleven Colleges governed by EDiSU in Pavia.

 

 

 

 

Teaching 2018/19

06 January 2019

On 17th December 2018 EDiSU published the list and a preliminary ranking order of students who had applied for College-based teaching for the current academic year. A copy of the list can be found at this page. The new procedure has been implemented in order to maximise financial support from government toward College-based teaching.

The final ranking order of students contributing to teaching will be established after a round of students' interviews that will take place in the coming days (7th-11th of January 2019).

Image: Palazzo Vistarino, the main site of EDISU offices.

 

 

 

 

Pavia Colleges

06 January 2019

On the 5th of December 2018 nearly two thousand students of the University of Pavia took to the streets in order to protest against prospective cuts to students' bursaries and the collegiate system of the University of Pavia. A number of University lecturers also joined the protest.  The University of Pavia has enjoyed higher than average governemental income toward students bursaries and eleven University Colleges.

Under Italian law support for Higher Education reaches students and Universities via regional government, Regione Lombardia in the case of the University of Pavia. New criteria for resource allocation currently under consideration by regional government, however, may appreciably decrease the quota of funding reaching the students of the University of Pavia and the Colleges at Pavia.

The Chancellor of the University of Pavia and the President of EDiSU, the body in charge of governing the eleven University Colleges present at Pavia and students' bursaries , are engaging Regione Lombardia in order to reverse the threat of the cuts. They can count on extensive support from the students and staff of the University of Pavia in this endeavour and first and above on the support of students living and working in the Colleges of the University, including the students of Volta who had a strong role and presence in the demonstration of 5 December 2018.

Image: a photograph of the demonstration of 5 December 2018 against the prospective cuts to students' grants and University Colleges at the University of Pavia.

 

 

 

 

HMGB1 Protein

09 December 2018

On the 10th of December 2018 Marco Bianchi, of Università San Raffaele, will give a seminar entitled High Mobility Group Box 1 protein orchestrates tissue regeneration via CXCR4 at 5.00 pm in the College lecture theatre.  In his talk ME Bianchi will discuss the signaling role of HMGB1 (High Mobility Group Box 1) protein as Damage Associated Molecular Pattern (DMAP) protein. DAMPs are molecules that are normally present inside cells, and whose extracellular presence signals that some cell has died or risks doing so. HMGB1, as the prototypical DAMP, signals tissue damage and triggers inflammation.

This is a major area of research in cancer biology, crucial for understanding the somatic evolution of cancer. All College students are invited to attend, especially those reading Medicine, Biology, Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The poster of the lecture can be downloaded here.  Further information about the seminar, including an abstract, short biography and key references can be found at this page.

Image: human hepatocytes in culture. Liver parenchymal cells are a key target cell population for liver regeneration.

 

 

 

 

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