Pavia, Italy

The New Frontier of Precision Medicine

when 3 September 2018 - 14 September 2018
language English
duration 2 weeks
credits 9 EC
fee EUR 100

The New Frontier of Precision Medicine International Summer School will discuss actuality and perspectives in the field of Precision Medicine, focusing mainly on the genetic aspects involved in pathogenesis, diagnostics and therapies.

The course will be held in English language.

The Summer School will last two weeks and will include 72 hours of curricular activities delivering an official certificate of participation.

During the first week several speakers, coming from important Italian and European Institutes, will hold several lectures that will touch the main fields of application of Precision Medicine (oncology, haematology, neurology, immunology, metabolic diseases, bioethics) and provide participants a new interpretation for clinical activity, in contrast with traditional medicine.
Three exercises will be carried out in this first week on the use of databases, bioinformatics, clinical and bioethical cases.

In the second week participants, divided in small groups according to the sector that most passionate them, studying the literature, will deepen an argument thanks to different Workshops and will produce works to be discussed during the days. The topics will be either proposed by the teachers or chosen by the participants, the discussions will always be followed by a debate that will involve all participants and will be stimulated and guided by an Expert in the field. Through a series of theoretical and practical exercises, they will also have the opportunity to deepen the methodological approach to genetic analysis and functional research tests of the pathogenicity of the identified genetic variants. In this second week, they will develop a new approach to pathologies.

Course leader

Prof. Luca Arcaini - Professor of Haematology at the University of Pavia
Coordinator of the International Summer School

Prof. Orsetta Zuffardi - Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pavia

Target group

Students and graduates in Medicine and Surgery, Biology and Biotechnology of the European Universities are admitted to the International Summer School selection.

Course aim

The New Frontier of Precision Medicine International Summer School aims to update students and doctors on new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that are leading towards a precision medicine. The development of new gene-editing technologies has led to an unpredictable growth of therapeutic possibilities based on causative genetic lesions. These technologies are drastically changing the fate of rare pathological conditions as well as the management of oncological, degenerative and infectious diseases. The evolution of new precision medicine approaches has been so fast that it is difficult to pass on new knowledge in a comprehensive and systematic way during the traditional course of study. In order to fill this gap the summer school is organized with lectures by some national and international professors and researchers who are actively contributing to the development of research.
During the course some of the pathological conditions that could take advantage of these new methods will be illustrated. This approach will provide the new generation of physicians the key to precision medicine, demonstrating the necessity of framing the patient, combining the clinical approach with the identification of causative genomic alterations.
Participants will have the opportunity to live in close contact with professors, hoping they can draw inspiration from the Summer School for the development of their future interests.
The workshop activities will allow to solidify the theoretical skills acquired during the first week.
Widening our horizons beyond traditional medicine is the first step on the path of modern scientific research.

Credits info

9 EC
The course has been accredited by the Department of Molecular Medicine of the University of Pavia and issues 9 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) after a final exam evaluated in thirtieths and officially certified.

Fee info

EUR 100: Our goal is to make this International Summer School economically accessible to university students, the enrollment has a total cost of € 100 which includes teaching materials, work breakfasts, work lunches and coffee breaks for each day of the course. Extracurricular activities of guided tours are also included.
EUR 150: We offer the availability of low cost accommodation in the center of Pavia, providing accommodation in a single room for a total of thirty (30) participants.
The cost is € 150 for the entire duration of the course (to be added to the 100 euros registration fee), participants will be housed at two historic colleges such as Collegio Plinio Fraccaro (home of the International Summer School). Participants can arrive from the afternoon of 2 September.

Scholarships

The Summer School provides 2 scholarships each worth € 200 for the two participants who will be more motivated and deserving during the evaluation tests. The scholarships will be awarded at the end of the International Summer School.