Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation

Quicklinks

Website presentation

This website is edited and owned by the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation.

It is an instrument to inform about the developments of Cystic Fibrosis researches, both from different researches around the world and researches promoted and financed by the Foundation itself in Italy and Europe. Moreover, the Foundation publishes the description and the results of each financed project.

The website is also means of information for the Foundation's supporters and for the volunteers who cooperate: several pages are dedicated to news related to fundraising social events.

The website is aimed to an Italian public (researchers, health workers, CF patients and families, Foundation supporters and general public), but there are several friends and scientists who work with the Foundation who do not speak Italian. There are also people outside Italy who are not Italian speakers and are often interested in knowing what happens in Italy and in Europe in relation to Cystic Fibrosis.

At the moment we are not able to publish a website both in Italian and English, therefore we present this summary with the essential information and links to some website pages of interest for non-Italian speaking visitors.

What is the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation (FFC)

The Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation is a non-profit organization with social purpose.

The purposes of the foundation are:

--To promote and support scientific research in order to implement innovative cures for patients affected by Cystic Fibrosis.
--To educate and keep researchers and health workers updated in order to improve their research competences and ability to assist the patients.
--To provide the population with information about the disease, how to prevent it and how scientific research is working towards a cure.

Every year the Foundation, in order to support the research, offers new grants open to Italian and European researchers for new innovative research projects. The projects are evaluated by the Foundation's scientific committee and by international experts with the peer reviewer method. 120 projects have been selected and financed from 2002 to 2008; approximately 150 international experts have collaborated with the selection, their list can be found in International peer reviewers.
The results of each project have consequently been published on International scientific journals.

More than 300 researchers and 90 laboratories or clinical centres are involved in our projects: they constitute a solid network of scientific inter-cooperation and a promising task force for CF research in Europe.

The researchers meet every year in a convention with the purpose of updating the CF research community with the results of the research already done and the programmed one.

For what concerns the education of researchers, doctors and other professionals, the Foundation organizes every year conventions, seminars and formative programs held in the Foundation headquarter. Among these activities, the Foundation supports young researchers financially.

The tools of information to the general public are this website, a monthly newsletter and a printed bulletin published every 4 months. In addition, the Foundation publishes brochures, films, seminars and conventions' proceedings, interviews, articles and news on the press and TV-radio.

On the website it is possible to find the bulletins' pdf (Notiziari) (in Italian) and the seminars and scientific conventions' brochures (both in Italian and English) in the Brochures page (Brochures seminari e conventions).

Structure and organization of the Foundation

The Foundation is composed of a Board of Directors, a Scientific Committee and a Scientific Direction. It operates on a national level with the collaboration of more than 60 delegations or support groups based in several Italian regions. 15 people constitute the headquarters' personnel.

Board of Directors

President: Vittoriano Faganelli
Vice-President: Matteo Marzotto
Members:
>Luigi Bozzini
>Donato Brigantini
>Sandro Caffi
>Paolo Del Debbio
>Giuseppe Ferrari
>Annamaria Giunta
>Gianni Mastella
>Gianluca Rana
>Sergio Ricciardi
>Michele Romano
>Luciano Vettore

Scientific Advisory Board

President: Antonio Cao

Counsellors:
>Giorgio Berton
>Roberto Buzzetti
>Gerd Doering
>Lucio Luzzatto

Scientific Direction

Director: Gianni Mastella

Direction's counsellor: Graziella Borgo

The list and contacts of Delegations and Support Groups (in Italian) can be found in this page: Delegations and Support Groups FFC (Delegazioni e Gruppi di Sostegno FFC)

Grants and FC Research Projects

Every year, on December 15^th, the Foundation issues new grants for new CF-related research projects. The deadline for applicants is on February 15^th of the following year. The principal researchers of every project must reside and operate in the European Union, but they can be associated as partners also with other researchers from other countries. The evaluation and selection process ends on mid-June and the results are directly communicated to the beneficiaries of the grants by the end of June of the same year.

More information on the page Research grants announcement (Bandi)

The projects selected and funded by the Foundation are synthetically presented, divided by year, on this page: Research projects (Progetti di ricerca).

Project Adoptions and Donations

Individuals, companies, delegations and support groups can fund the projects through the Project Adoption. The adoption involves a special relationship between the donor, the adopted project and the researchers' team. The donor follows the researchers' activities, the projects developments and is regularly updated with the results of the study.

The regulation of the project adoption (in Italian) and the list of the adopted projects and the available ones to be adopted can be found on this page: Adopt a project. (Adotta un progetto)The list is divided by year and shows who has adopted each project.

Individuals, companies, banks and volunteers can support the research through many initiatives of fundraising and with direct donations to the Foundation, even on-line.

More information on this page: Donations.(Donazioni)

How to contact us

• Regular mail, at the address: Fondazione Ricerca Fibrosi Cistica - Ospedale Maggiore - Piazzale Stefani 1, 37126 - Verona (Italy)
• E-mail:
  • fondazione.ricercafc@azosp.vr.it (general secretariat, information)
  • gianni.mastella@azosp.vr.it (Scientific Direction)
• Telephone: +39 045 812 3438 (Secretariat, information), +39 045 812 3567 (Scientific Direction)
• Fax: +39 045 812 3568
• Website: www.fibrosicisticaricerca.it
  • On this website, in the Questions and Answers (Domande e risposte) section (in Italian), it is possible to pose questions about scientific themes, also in English: they will receive an answer both in English and Italian.