Experts at the Sbarro Institute and Rigenera research laboratory, in Turin, are working on creating a kit capable of identifying pathologies and frailties. "It will be available for everyone, and we will have a database on people's health status"
«We are now ready, as in fact the “The athlete’s genetic passport” is a reality. A great result, obtained on rigorous scientific basis and which opens the door to innovative therapies."
Antonio Giordano, 61 years old, is one of the world’s brightest minds from Naples. He is an oncologist, pathologist, geneticist, researcher, professor, and writer. A naturalized Italian American, he is Director of the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine in Philadelphia and Professor of Anatomy and Pathological Histology at the Department of Medical Biotechnology of the University of Siena.
“I also founded, with the help of vice-president Giancarlo Arra, Sbarro Italia, and I am particularly proud for this. Just as everyone, absolutely everyone, knows of my irresistible passion for football and for Napoli."
Professor, what do you mean: “we will have the genetic passport?
“We have been studying the athletes' DNA for some time in collaboration with important teams such as Napoli, Fiorentina, Real Madrid, and others. In particular, we have been mapping the small genetic alterations the athletes accumulate during their competitive life, but which are also reflected later."
What are you aiming for?
«We intend to identify fragilities to intervene in time before their effects. We can indicate the best way to prevent injuries, various pathologies, predict the use/effect of certain drugs or potentially carcinogenic substances".
How?
«Near Turin, in Candiolo, there is “Rigenera”, a research reality where a group of excellent scientist led by Antonio Graziano and Riccardo D'Aquino works t with us. We are creating an inexpensive kit, easily available, which can be used to test the guardian genes of our genome through saliva."
The importance of this for athletes is clear, but what function will the genetic passport have for ordinary people?
«It will be very useful, particularly for the prevention of malformations, but it will also become a fundamental database for other pathologies, especially in the oncology field."
We're rooting for you and your team: Napoli, which has always been in your thoughts as a football fan.
“I'm close to the team. I live for the results of matches, and the Napoli team ranking in the Italian League. And I am lucky enough to know players, coaches and managers. The celebration for the scudetto won by Spalletti was a great excitement and I still have goosebumps. I hope that these good memories will be replicated by Mazzarri.
Because Neapolitanism is talent. And I want the team to succeed against everything and everyone.
Professor Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., is the creator and head of the Sbarro Health Research Organization, located at Temple University's College of Science and Technology in Philadelphia. Stay connected with him through his various social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, to receive the latest updates.