The 5th edition of the UniStem Day, taking place on March 15th in Italy, Spain and the UK, will be dedicated to the “scientific passion of Rita Levi-Montalcini”, who sadly passed away last December.
She was a Nobel Prize winner for Medicine, senator, and she established the EBRI Foundation (European Brain Research Institute) in 2002, at the age of 93. Rita Levi-Montalcini dedicated her life to scientific research and has been an extraordinary role model for women and science.
In 1947 she was invited by Viktor Hamburger to collaborate with him at the Washington University in Saint Louis. During her years in America, Rita Levi-Montalcini discovered the nerve growth factor (Ngf), that she isolated together with Stanley Cohen in 1954. In 1986 she won The Nobel Prize for Medicine thanks to this discovery.
One of Rita Levi-Montalcin’s last endeavors was the establishment of the EBRI Foundation in 2002. Her idea was to create a center for scientific excellence able to attract both foreign and Italian researchers. The EBRI’s research activity is mainly based on the study of the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurons and synapses involved in the cerebral areas studied, by integration of a multidisciplinary approach.
The EBRI foundation has made a short film available for the event that will be screened during UniStem Day 2013.
