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It's not easy to drive long molecule chains – such as DNA – through a "nanopore" (a pore which is just few millionths of a millimeter wide) because they tend to tangle up.

A simulation carried out by an international group of scientists – among whom are SISSA researchers – has suggested a solution: it's better to "pull" gently without applying too much force, otherwise the molecule could be stopped due to excessive friction. That is an important observation to create innovative DNA sequencing methods.

Some researchers at SISSA have published in PNAS a study to better understand sliding friction in nanotribology: a new simulation model opens the way to new research methods, thanks to colloidal crystals.

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October 26, 2012

Enhancing the creation of spin-offs to favour employment among highly-educated young people, this is the goal of RE-SEED, a project presented today and also promoted by SISSA in Trieste.

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For nearly one year some researchers of the International School for Advances Studies (SISSA), the University of Milan, Alma Mater Studiorum University in Bologna and the University of Perugia have been working on FoodCAST,a project commissioned and financed by the Lombardy Region, MIPAF and ISMEA, to tackle the complex dynamics of food with an innovative and multidisciplinary approach never tried before. Foodly is a game devised and designed by SISSA Medialab, with the collaboration of SISSA Master’s programme in Complex Actions, to make the publ

In the competitive scenery of European financing, SISSA is at the top of the ranking of the Italian scientific institutions for the ratio between awarded Grants (financing for research) and number of researchers and lecturers.

October 16, 2012

When do we start learning our first words? According to a new study carried out by the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), the first signs of brain activity linked to linguistic memory can be seen ever since the early days of our lives.

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October 15, 2012

While studying Parkinson's disease, an international research group led by SISSA scientists in Trieste made a discovery which can improve industrial protein synthesis for therapeutic use. They managed to understand the use of RNA when it is not involved in the protein-coding process: the protein synthesis activity of coding genes can be enhanced, for example, by the activity of the non-coding one called "antisense".

October 10, 2012

The group led by Giovanni Bussi at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste has just received considerable financing to study RNA, a molecule with several functions, important in the biology of the cell. In the project, the method of computer simulations will be used.

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Maria Chiara Carrozza

October 10, 2012

SISSA - Main Lecture Hall

October 9, 2012 

Until now it has been a mystery to scientists: how does it work? What is the need of the movement of euglenids, small organisms swimming in any pond? Nobody has ever described it in detail and nobody has ever understood its dynamics. But today, through a mathematical model, scientists at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) and at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya have suggested a plausible description of this movement, made by the sliding of the membrane around the outer surface of euglenids.

September 27, 2012

What do movements have to do with our understanding of language? Some scientists say that the way we understand words describing actions (walking, jumping, dancing...) could be connected to the motor activity of the brain related to movements. Two studies, one published soon after the other in Cortex and in Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, have involved some SISSA scientists in Trieste and have explored this hypothesis from different points of view.

September 28-30, 2012

The first edition of Trieste Next, European Innovation and Scientific Research Forum, was held in Trieste from 28th to 30th September 2012. The International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) participated as co-promoter and organised eight events for scientific dissemination.

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Jean Decety

September 20, 2012

SISSA - Main Lecture Hall

Empathy is what makes us human: it is the ability to reflect ourselves in other people's emotions and what creates that fundamental cohesion at the basis of our society. The ability to be empathic originates in our brain, in ancient and basic structures making up the material of which even very complex forms of empathy are made.

On September 17, the famous linguist and scholar Noam Chomsky received a PhD in Neuroscience from the hands of Guido Martinelli, the Director of the International School for Advanced studies (SISSA) in Trieste. This event was attended by a broad international audience (scientists and laypeople).

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September 7, 2012

SISSA is once again a reference point in the Italian scenery of science communication and journalism: an article entitled "Il racconto pubblico della scienza" (the public dissemination of science) by Nico Pitrelli, co-director of SISSA Master's in Science Communication and of SISSA Master's in Digital Science Journalism, has been published in the journal "Il Mulino".

18th and 19th September, 2012 
SISSA - Main Lecture Hall 

On 18th and 19th September in Trieste a workshop was held by some of the most important cognitive neuroscientists. After granting an honorary PhD to the famous scientist Noam Chomsky, over the next two days SISSA summed up what is at the forefront of cognitive science.

The internationally known scientist Noam Chomsky received on 17th September an honorary PhD in Neuroscience from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste. During his visit, the scientist held a Lectio Magistralis with the title "The minimalist program and language acquisition" in the Main Lecture Hall of the school.

July 24, 2012

July 23, 2012

The Summer School on Dopaminergic Neurons, held at SISSA some days ago, has ended successfully. Several speeches were held on cutting-edge research on Parkinson's disease, one of the most common neurological disorders in our society.

July 18-19, 2012

During the Summer School on Dopaminergic Neurons, organised by SISSA and CBM, the most innovative approaches to treat Parkinson's disease will be handled. Internationally known speakers and several researchers will be participating. Within the activity of the school, the results of Dopaminet, a European project involving SISSA and CBM, will be illustrated.