Lab experience at the Laboratory of Cellular Metabolism and Regenerative Medicine, BIOMETRA – Antonio Mannino

I got the opportunity to do my first lab rotation at the Laboratory of Cellular Metabolism and Regenerative Medicine, BIOMETRA, Lita Segrate.

PI of the laboratory: Professor Francesco Bifari

Tutor: Doctor Ilaria Barone

The lab focuses on spinal cord regenerative medicine and neural cellular metabolism.

I completed my first lab rotation in Professor Bifari’s laboratory. The lab studies the regeneration of neural tissue after traumatic injuries using specific subsets of immunological cells found in the tumour microenvironment. It was my first experience in a wet lab, therefore I was both very enthusiastic and worried. I was lucky enough to find some very competent and kind people that made my experience incredibly educational and fulfilling.

I was able to see and take part to many laboratory techniques, including immunofluorescence, PCR, Elisa. My favourite part was probably learning how to work in the biological hood; I was allowed to take care of cells by myself to fully understand the processes behind cell culturing.

I was exposed to loads of scientific literature and I was able to attend a full day of scientific seminars during the BIOMETRA workshop which was both fun and eye opening.

Everyone knew this was my first experience and they were very understanding about it, always open to answer my questions and explain things I didn’t grasp at first. I could see how researchers think and how they plan an experiment which was very refreshing since I believe that the way of thinking in clinical medicine is a bit different.

I’ve always been fascinated by regenerative medicine and the nervous system; therefore, it was so interesting to see how scientists can actually work on real cells to study and possibly modify the course of a disease. What I appreciated about the line of research of the lab is that it allowed me to see how different systems, like the immune system, the nervous system and even the tumour microenvironment can interact with each other and alter their biology. Understanding that a sub-population of cells could promote a pathological process in a certain environment but be possibly curative in another one was mind-blowing. As a medical student, we often imagine only MDs practicing medicine, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. It was very grounding to see how medicine doesn’t just happen in the hospital but it’s actually a very long process that starts in the lab and it was humbling to witness the work of scientists and their contribution to the future of medicine.

This experience was overall very inspiring and it strengthened my desire to keep on walking the physician scientist path.

I am very grateful to Professor Bifari for hosting me in his laboratory and Doctor Ilaria Barone for her guidance and support throughout my lab rotation. I want to thank also Riccardo Esposito for being so helpful during this journey.

Finally, I thank my mentor Professor Domenico Mavilio and the Virgilio Program for this opportunity.