The Kickoff Meeting of the PhD Program in Science and Technology for Advanced Therapies (STAT) will take place on March 5, 2026. The event will be dedicated to presenting the doctoral program and fostering discussion with the research and biomedical and technological innovation community.

The morning will begin at 10:00 AM with participant arrival and registration, followed by institutional greetings. At 10:30 AM, the STAT PhD Program will be presented by the Curriculum Coordinators (Prof. Annalisa Bonfiglio – IUSS, Prof. Raffaella Di Micco – IUSS, and Prof. Federico Forneris – University of Pavia), who will outline the educational objectives, research lines, and opportunities available to PhD candidates.

After a coffee break, the program will continue with the first scientific session, focusing on interdisciplinary topics ranging from hadron therapy to bioengineering for precision medicine, and bio-inspired robotics for therapeutic applications. A discussion and Q&A session will follow.

The second session, scheduled for 12:00 PM, will explore new perspectives in gene therapy, including innovative in vivo treatment strategies, genome dynamics in neurological development and disease, and the expansion of therapeutic tools for disorders caused by mutations in large genes. This session will also conclude with an open discussion.

Following the lunch break, activities will resume at 2:30 PM with a third session dedicated to new strategies for tumor-targeted small molecule discovery, mechanisms of presynaptic assembly and function in cortical neurons, and experiences in biotech entrepreneurship.

In the afternoon, an additional coffee break and a session focused on the organizational aspects of the PhD program are scheduled, followed by an extended Q&A and final discussion.

The day will conclude at 5:30 PM with closing remarks.

This event represents an important milestone marking the launch of the new cycle of the STAT PhD Program, promoting dialogue across disciplines and fostering synergies between academic research, technological innovation, and clinical applications.