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.

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).

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

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

 






17 October 2022

18 October 2022.  Pier-Luigi Lollini, Laboratory of Immunology and Biology of Metastasis, University of Bologna, Italy
Vaccines for the prevention and therapy of mammary carcinomas.
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 poster of the seminar is available here.

All College students are invited to attend, especially students reading Medicine, Biological Sciences and Biotechnology

_____________________________________

Abstract
T
he immune system effectively prevents tumor onset, and immunodeficiencies predispose to cancer. Unfortunately, a functional immune system is not 100% efficient in preventing either infections or tumors. However, the correlation between immune suppression and excessive cancer risk suggests that immune stimulation could prevent tumor onset, or at least reduce the risk. In humans, cancer immunoprevention is already operative at the population level, in the form of vaccines against oncogenic viruses. The hepatitis B vaccine reduces by two-thirds the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, and papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines prevent the development of cervical carcinoma. Widespread adoption of the HPV vaccine could lead, for the first time in human history, to the disappearance of a deadly cancer, just as vaccination eradicated smallpox in the past. Is immunoprevention also applicable to the vast majority (>80%) of human tumors, not related to oncogenic viruses? Preclinical studies performed in my Laboratory, and in many others throughout the world, demonstrated that immunological stimuli do indeed prevent tumor onset. Studies in HER-2 transgenic mice, which are prone to mammary carcinogenesis, showed that vaccination of young, healthy mice with cells or DNA encoding HER-2, coupled with potent biological adjuvants, could completely prevent tumor onset later in life. Immunity from mammary carcinoma was regulated by T cell cytokines and effected by anti-HER-2 antibodies. The fact that HER-2 is an oncoantigen, i.e. an antigenic molecule causally involved in carcinogenesis, was a key element in determining long-term immunoprevention. Clinical development of cancer immunoprevention depends on the discovery of suitable oncoantigens in high-risk individuals, such as HER-2 itself, which is frequently amplified in breast cancers of Li-Fraumeni carriers. MUC-1, a cell surface mucin aberrantly expressed in colorectal carcinoma, is the target of early clinical studies that are paving the way to human cancer immunoprevention.

Biography
Personal data Lollini, Pier-Luigi Born in Bologna, Italy, July 3rd, 1956. Citizenship: Italian.
Address Laboratory of Immunology and Biology of Metastasis Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine Viale Filopanti 22, 40126 Bologna, Italy Phone +39051-209-4786 - Fax: +39051-242-169 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Web: www.lollini.it
Present position Professor of General Pathology, University of Bologna, Italy.
Education and Training 1980 - MSc in Biology, University of Bologna, Italy., 1987 - Ph.D. in Oncology (experimental), University of Bologna, Italy.
Positions 1980-88 - Postdoctoral fellow, Istituto of Cancer Research (University of Bologna, Italy). Fellowships from Italian Ministry for Education, "Anna Villa Rusconi" Foundation, Istituto Oncologico Romagnolo, Italy.
1988-92 - Research Assistant, Biotechnology Satellite Unit of Bologna, National Cancer Institute, Genova, Italy.
1992-2001 - Associate Professor of Oncology, University of Bologna, Italy.
2001-present - Full Professor of General Pathology, University of Bologna, Italy
Appointments 1998-2000 - Director, Institute of Cancer Research, University of Bologna, Italy.
1998-2003 - Member of the Grants Committee for Medical Sciences, University of Bologna. 1999-2004 - Deputy-Director, Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research, University of Bologna, Italy.
2001-2003 and 2006-2015 - Member of the Technical-Scientific Committee, Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), the major Italian charity for cancer research. 2001-2005 - Board of Directors, Italian Society of Cancerology.
2004-2007 - Director, Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research, University of Bologna, Italy.
2009-2020 – Member of the Emilia Romagna Regional Committee, Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC).
2014-2020 - Director, Ph.D. Program in Oncology, Hematology and Pathology, University of Bologna.
2016-2019 - Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC).
2016-present – Member of the European Academy of Tumor Immunology (EATI).

06 October 2022

College is pleased to announce funding for the implementation of a major landscaping project.

Volta is fortunate to have sizeable grounds but these need investment and  development in order to provide valuable use and enjoyment to students and visitors. The landscaping project will be implemented in 4 stages outlined schematically in this brief document. The whole project will be completed in 2-3 years depending on the timining of future funds for stages 2-4. Stage 1 - involving primarily the two central courts - will be implemented this autumn.

 

 






06 October 2022

College is pleased to report funding for the installation of anti bird spikes in the gutters. This will prevent birds from building nests in the gutters with consequent water stagnation that has caused major damage to student's rooms on the top floor  and additional damage to the external walls.

This project has a long history. It has been advocated and detailed in successive yearly reports and development plans and its implementation is testimony to College resilience and planning.






06 October 2022

The new Volta Students Union (VSU) Committee (Comitato Alunni in EDiSU vocabulary) has been elected on Tuesday the 11th of October. 

Nominations were received by the College Director by Friday 7th.  The list of candidates was published on Saturday 8th and candidates discussed their ideas in a General Assembly at 6.00 pm on Monday 10th in the College Lecture Theatre. Voting has taken place on Tuesday 11th from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm and yielded the following results:

Undergraduates
Sladjana Ajdinovic, Scienze Politiche e delle Relazioni Internazionali, year 2 (2 votes)
Giorgia Fontana, Medicina e Chirurgia, year 3 (15 votes)
Francesco Zambrini, Medicine and Surgery, year 3 (22 votes)

Postgraduates
Francesco Arena, Biologia Sperimentale e Applicata, year 1 (5 votes)
Arianna Armanetti, Scienze Fisiche, year 2 (4 votes)
Carmen Cardone, Electronic Engineering, year 1 (5 votes)

Student's representation and contribution to College life and development are taken in the highest regard at Volta and College is concerned by the low voter turnout (29.3%) in this post-Covid election. A range actions will be discussed and taken - jointly with the newly electd members of the VSU Committee - in order to enhance discussion and participation in College life.








04 October 2022

On the 5th of October at 9.00 pm the Associazione Coro Facoltà di Musicologia - APS will give a concert in Aula del Quattrocento (Pz Leonardo da Vinci, Pavia) to mark the opening of the new academic year at Volta. The distinguished choir, directed by Giovanni Cestino, will perform traditional songs as well new work - Novecento - written by composer Mauro Zuccante for texts of major twentieth century Italian poets (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Giovanni Pascoli, Aldo Palazzeschi, Diego Valeri, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Trilussa,  Dino Campana, Vincenzo Cardarelli, David Maria Turoldo and Pierluigi Cappello).  This will be the first performance of this work in Italy and Mauro Zuccante will be in attendance.  The concert therefore will consitute a splendid opportunity to reunite members of Volta with musical work after years of absence caused by the Covid pandemic. 

All College students are warnly invited to attend.  The poster of the concert is available here.

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A group photograph of Associazione Coro Facoltà di Musicologia - APS.

 

04 October 2022

On the 3rd of October at 5.00 pm the College will hold the traditional General Assembly that opens the new academic year at Volta. The event offers an insight into College life to Volta freshers and constitutes an opportunity to reflect on the work achieved in the previous academic year, the tasks and goals of the new academic year and College development in general.  Francesco Rigano, professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Pavia and President of EDiSU, the College governing body, will attend and address the assembly.  All students are warmly invited to join. The poster of the assembly is avaialble here.  

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A typical Volta Assembly in the College lecture theatre from previous years.

 

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