Lawmakers on both sides were at work
on Friday to secure funding for the Rome-based European Brain
Research Institute (EBRI) founded by the late Italian
neurologist and 1986 Nobel Prize winner for medicine Rita
Levi-Montalcini, after it missed out on its regular annual
allocation in the 2024 budget.
Several caucuses, including within the right-centre majority,
have reportedly drafted amendments to a decree on regulatory
deadlines currently before parliament for conversion into law to
assign the necessary funds.
One from centre-right Forza Italia provides for one million euro
in funding from the ministry of university and research, which
has long said it is willing to support the non-profit research
center dedicated to understanding higher brain functions and to
the study of the brain at various levels.
The proposed amendments must now be subject to admissibility
criteria.
In late December EBRI President Antonino Cattaneo said in the
absence of funding the institute would have to close.
"For the first time, after more than ten years, the contribution
for structural costs that the EBRI Rita Levi-Montalcini
Foundation has been receiving since 2012 through the Budget Law
has not been renewed," said Cattaneo in a statement.
Consequently, the institute "will have to close", he added.
"It is a serious decision, for which the government must take
responsibility," said Cattaneo.
Established in 2002 by Rita Levi-Montalcini, EBRI uses basic
research to identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms that
are useful for the development of new therapeutic strategies for
neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, including
Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia, amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain, and
neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
It also conducts studies on autism spectrum disorders, as well
as rare genetic diseases.
Photo: Rita Levi-Montalcini celebrates her 99th birthday in her
office at the EBRI institute in Rome in 2008.
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