Humanitas University

About 300 scientists work at Humanitas to understand the mechanisms involved in biological processes relevant to human health and diseases. In more than 30 laboratories, processes involved in normal and pathological immune responses, cancer development, neurological and cardiovascular disorders are investigated. We believe that understanding mechanisms that underlie normal biological processes is essential to understand how the same mechanisms are altered in disease. Improving cures requires understanding mechanisms. Our Research is mainly supported by competitive funds assigned to individual researchers by International and Italian funding agencies and charities. Research funds are also provided by the Italian Ministry of Health and by donations via the 5×1000 scheme from the Italian Ministry of Finances.

Humanitas provides laboratory space, high-tech infrastructures, computational platforms and support personnel enabling researchers to carry out research of the highest international standards. The results of our Research are routinely published in top-tier scientific journals and several of our researchers are among the most-cited scientists in the world in their respective scientific disciplines. An International Scientific Advisory Board including world-renowned scientists is in charge of evaluating our Research.

The Research Community of Humanitas

The hearth of our Research Community is represented by Research Trainees, PhD students and Post-Doctoral fellows. Their work is supervised by 30 Principal Investigators as well as staff scientists and technicians. Core technological units financed by Humanitas, including the Imaging facility, the Cytofluorimetry facility and the Genomics facility provide high-tech support to the Researchers.

A Research Integrated with Clinical Activities

As a Clinical Research Hospital, Humanitas is committed to an integrated Research based on strong collaborations between Clinicians and Researchers. Such integration occurs in different areas, including diseases due to the malfunctioning of the immune system (such as Autoimmune Diseases and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases), Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases and Neurological Disorders.

Focus on post-graduate training

An essential part of our Mission is to contribute to the education of a new generation of highly trained scientists. All our Principal Investigators actively contribute to training activities. Admission to our PhD program, which conforms to the highest international standards, is based on a competitive selection open to candidates from all over the world. The PhD training scheme is mainly based on daily research work in the labs and is integrated with courses on different disciplines (such as imaging, statistics and scientific writing). Students are also exposed to seminars from outstanding international speakers that cover a large range of topics. Direct informal interactions with the speakers, including journal clubs on the topic of the seminars, are an integral part of the training. Post-doctoral fellows are trained to acquire all necessary skills to move towards a career of independent investigators. This includes coaching activities related to lab management and supervision of PhD students.