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Chronic retinal diseases, such as diabetic macular edema and exudative age-related macular degeneration, are currently treated with intravitreal drug injections. Although the treatment is not very painful and the drugs used have no particular side effects, there are some indications/practices that the patient must follow during and after the injections: The injection is performed, under topical anesthesia, in a controlled environment, in sterile conditions in order to avoid infections; Post-injection therapy based on eye drops must be followed; The first…

Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with the University of Milan, has recently patented a system aimed at the training of surgeons or cardiologists in cardiac interventions and surgical procedures. This system is a compact and easy-handled apparatus capable of replicating the opening/closing movements of the heart valves, thus allowing training procedures to be carried out in a highly realistic environment. The device is particularly suitable for the evaluation of new intervention techniques and new intracardiac devices also for a minimally…

About 70% of cancer patients are subjected to chemotherapy practices, which are characterized by side effects related not only to the intrinsic toxicity of the drugs, but also subject to usual overdosing. Not only is chemotherapy hardly bearable for the patients and their relatives, but also impacts on their quality of life, and it is costly for the sanitary system. To overcome these problems, a group of researchers from the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta” has…

MINIRES is an oligopeptide based on a recurring consensus sequence in resilin, a particular natural elastomeric protein, constituting the elastic structures in insects. The patented peptide sequence derives from a consensus sequence of exon I (SDSYGAP) that has been chemically modified to enhance its elastomeric behavior. The halogenation of at least one oligopeptide residue allows to replicate the elastic properties of the entire resilin, enhancing the spontaneous self-assembly of the peptide, without the need to chemical cross-linking. “MINIRES can be…

A culture substrate made of synthetic structures called “nichoids”, able to maintain the function of stem and progenitor cells during expansion, was designed and patented at Politecnico di Milano with the collaboration of CNR and Fondazione Cariplo. This innovative culture substrate mimics the geometric constraints perceived by stem cells in their native microenvironment, the so-called “niche”, thus allowing the maintenance of cell stemness during expansion without a feeder layer. The nichoid substrate is fabricated by two-photon laser polymerization of a…