UNIFER hosts approximately 17,000 students. UNIFER is constantly scored among the top mid-size Italian Universities by both public (governmental) and private (newspapers) surveys. In these surveys, UNIFER has been scored first in Italy in terms of application of research results.

The activities of Prof. Simonato’s Unit, at the Department of Medical Sciences, are specifically oriented at the neurobiology and pharmacology of epilepsy. This Unit holds a long-standing expertise in this field. Collaboration exists with multiple research groups in Europe and North America. Current research activities include studies on the involvement of neuropeptide systems in temporal lobe epilepsy; the involvement of neuratrophic factors in temporal lobe epilepsy; developing viral vectors for the transfer of genes in the adult central nervous system; identification of miRNAs involved in epileptogenesis and maintenance of chronic epilepsy. The long-term aim of these activities is to identify new biomarkers and therapeutic targets, and to develop new therapeutic strategies for partial epilepsies. The Unit has 7 labs (surgery, video-EEG, electrophysiology, cellular biology, molecular biology, microscopy and chemistry) hosting state-of-the-art equipment, including a laser microdissector and a confocal microscope, and has full access to the facilities of the Technopole of the University of Ferrara, in particular the microarray service and a FACS. The Technopole is a High Technology Network of 10 sites within the region Emilia Romagna that hosts and carries out activities, services and structures for industrial research and technology transfer.

Michele Simonato, Lead Scientist, is a MD and currently Professor of Pharmacology at UNIFER. In the past, he was Research Associate and Consultant at the Duke Center for the Advanced Study of Epilepsy; Duke University, NC, USA (1988-93). He is also Director of the Neuroscience Center of UNIFER and vice-President of the Italian Institute of Neuroscience. He is working in the field of epilepsy since 1986. He is currently coordinator of Epixchange, an EC FP7 project and of a multi-center study on neurotrophins funded by the Italian Ministry for University and Research (Prin 2010-11). Other staff members involved in the project are: Silvia Zucchini; Beatrice Paradiso; Anna Binaschi, Marie Soukupova, Gianluca Verlengia, Chiara Falcicchia, Paolo Roncon. Silvia Zucchini is PhD in Biotechnology and currently a researcher of the Technopole of Ferrara. Beatrice Paradiso is a MD, PhD with specialization in neuropathology. Anna Binaschi, Marie Soukupova and Gianluca Verlengia are PhD in Pharmacology with established competence in in vivo experimental models, neurochemistry and viral vectors; Chiara Falcicchia and Paolo Roncon are Doctorate students with expertise in viral vectors and functional genomics.

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