{"id":525270,"date":"2026-06-18T09:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/news\/due-nuovi-progetti-finanziati-con-il-bando-spark-pisa\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:55:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:55:48","slug":"two-new-projects-funded-through-the-spark-pisa-call","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/en\/news\/two-new-projects-funded-through-the-spark-pisa-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Two new projects for medical and diagnostic innovation funded through the SPARK Pisa call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The two winners of the latest\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">SPARK Pisa\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Proof-of-Concept (PoC)\u00a0call\u00a0for proposals\u00a0are\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">RECAST<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, coordinated by\u00a0Professor Sabrina Taliani of the Department of Pharmacy, and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Vi3Dgo<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, coordinated by Professor Paolo Neri\u00a0of the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering. SPARK Pisa is the University of Pisa programme that supports the development of innovative technologies and solutions with high application potential in the medical,\u00a0pharmaceutical\u00a0and diagnostic sectors.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The two selected projects address important challenges in healthcare and clinical practice: on the one hand,\u00a0improving\u00a0our\u00a0understanding\u00a0of\u00a0the mechanisms of action of one of the most important classes of drugs used in the treatment of heart failure; on the other,\u00a0developing\u00a0innovative digital tools for monitoring dermatological conditions.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Established in 2019 as the first Italian node of the international\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sparkmed.stanford.edu\/about-spark\/spark-global\/\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">SPARK Global<\/span><\/b><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0network, founded by Stanford University and now comprising more than 50 academic institutions worldwide, SPARK Pisa funds innovative research projects developed by University of Pisa research groups with\u00a0a Technology Readiness Level (TRL)\u00a0between 3 and 5. The programme supports the journey from\u00a0early-stage\u00a0concept to\u00a0functional prototype and facilitates\u00a0the\u00a0subsequent transfer\u00a0of technologies\u00a0to industry and the market.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">SPARK Pisa supports the development of new therapies and technologies, diagnostic\u00a0solutions\u00a0addressing unmet medical needs, and computational approaches applied to systems pharmacology, systems\u00a0medicine\u00a0and nutrition. Its\u00a0objective\u00a0is to promote translational research and accelerate the transfer of academic discoveries into\u00a0concrete\u00a0solutions that\u00a0benefit\u00a0patients and society.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cWith SPARK Pisa, we bring academic research closer to patients by supporting the development of health technologies and new medicines in areas where unmet medical needs still exist. The University of Pisa is proud to be part of SPARK Global, an international network involving more than 50 academic institutions worldwide. Projects funded in Pisa have already generated patents and highly promising solutions, and we hope that the two new projects supported this year will follow\u00a0a similar\u00a0path,\u201d comments\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Corrado Priami<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, Vice-Rector for Knowledge Enhancement at the University of Pisa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>RECAST: a new tool for understanding how gliflozins work in heart failure<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_524602\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-524602\" style=\"width: 267px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-524602 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/ST-267x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/ST-267x300.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/ST-768x864.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/ST.jpg 828w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-524602\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">La professoressa Sabrina Taliani<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The objective of the project coordinated by Professor Sabrina Taliani, conducted in collaboration with the research group led by Dr Luca Menichetti, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Clinical Physiology of the National Research Council (CNR) in Pisa, is to develop an innovative PET tracer designed to quantitatively assess tissue distribution and clarify the mechanism of action of an antidiabetic drug approved for the treatment of heart failure\u00a0that belongs\u00a0to the gliflozin class.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Heart failure\u00a0remains\u00a0one of the major challenges in cardiovascular medicine, and its clinical management relies on several pharmacological therapies aimed at improving cardiac function and clinical outcomes. Among these, gliflozins represent one of the most significant innovations of recent years, having\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0reductions in morbidity and mortality even in non-diabetic patients.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Despite the clinical benefits\u00a0observed, diagnostic tools capable of clarifying their mechanism of action at\u00a0the\u00a0myocardial level are still lacking. RECAST aims to fill this gap through an advanced imaging platform that may contribute to a better understanding of cardiometabolic processes and, in the future, support the development of new diagnostic strategies and personalised therapeutic approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Vi3Dgo: digital technologies for monitoring dermatological conditions<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_524604\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-524604\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-524604 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/paolo_neri-300x229.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/paolo_neri-300x229.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/paolo_neri.jpg 533w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-524604\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Il professor Paolo Neri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The second selected project is Vi3Dgo, coordinated by Paolo Neri in collaboration with Giovanni Menchini, Scientific and Medical Director of the\u00a0Dermacademy\u00a0Institute in Pisa.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The project aims to develop an innovative solution to support the monitoring of visible dermatological conditions, with particular attention to assessing their clinical evolution over time.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The\u00a0objective\u00a0is to contribute to making follow-up procedures more objective,\u00a0reproducible\u00a0and easier to document, providing healthcare professionals with a tool to support clinical assessment and patients with greater awareness of their\u00a0treatment\u00a0journey.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The potential impact extends to both the clinical and socio-economic spheres. Vi3Dgo responds to the growing demand for non-invasive digital technologies aimed at personalised medicine, the standardisation of clinical data and\u00a0the improvement of quality of care. In the longer term, the project\u2019s results may support new applications in dermatology, clinical\u00a0research\u00a0and healthcare innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two new projects for medical and diagnostic innovation funded through the SPARK Pisa Proof-of-Concept programme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":524621,"menu_order":3,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"tag-notizie-persone":[],"tags_news":[2642,285,2305],"categorie":[159],"class_list":["post-525270","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tags_news-department-of-civil-and-industrial-engineering","tags_news-department-of-pharmacy","tags_news-research-en","categorie-unipinews-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Two new projects for medical and diagnostic innovation funded through the SPARK Pisa call ~ 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