When faced with illness, not many can look positively to the future and care about their well-being and that of others. But Milena Poliseno, 38, from Conversano (Bari), is one of those people: she has been sick with glioblastoma for over a year and has decided to participate in the collective effort to finance research on brain tumors at the University of Trento with her personal donation, through the Celeghin Foundation.
Milena Poliseno visited the headquarters of the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrated Biology at the Fabio Ferrari Science and Technology Campus in Povo with her husband and son, and handed over the donation to its director, Alessandro Quattrone. Annalisa Celeghin was present too as president of the Celeghin Foundation: in recent years, the foundation has concretely supported the research work of the University of Trento in the fight against brain tumors.
The donation made by Milena Poliseno (4,257 euro) comes with the donations collected in recent months by the Foundation, amounting to almost 170,000 euro, which in part have already been allocated. Most funds were donated by Michele Zanin from Orsago, Treviso, to remember his wife Paola Rusca, who passed away at the age of 56 and whose energy and generosity gave happiness to her family and friends.
The Foundation supports various research projects, including the one that is in progress at the University of Trento. Funded with 150,000 euro over two years to hire researchers and purchase consumables, the project aims to repurpose and develop an antibiotic drug for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive brain tumor. The study is coordinated by Alessandro Quattrone, director of Cibio, who explains: "Our research work, made possible by the Celeghin Foundation, is focused on the heart of the problem, to identify an effective drug for a tumor that currently resists all treatments. We are following a path that, we believe, has not been tried so far, and we are very determined".
The work of UniTrento on glioblastoma multiforme reached the international scientific community when, at the end of April, a paper entitled "Inhibition of mitochondrial translation suppresses glioblastoma stem cell growth" was published in Cell Reports (https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.celrep.2021.109024).
"We are very happy to be able to further contribute to this very promising study, which gives hope to people with glioblastoma - commented the president of the Foundation, Annalisa Celeghin. We are even happier now, because the funds we have raised were donated by people who believe in the cause, which somehow gives them even more value".
A view that is shared by Milena Poliseno: "Today my only hope is research. I hope, for myself and for the many patients with glioblastoma, that one day not too far from now we can finally get better. Human beings have made discoveries and developed innovations. I thank Professor Quattrone, researcher Denise Sighel, and the whole team for the great work they are doing".
The Giovanni Celeghin Foundation
The foundation is named after Giovanni Celeghin, who passed away in January 2011 when he had just turned 68, from glioblastoma multiforme, a very aggressive brain tumor. An entrepreneur from Padova, founder of DMO Spa (which includes Caddy's, L'Isola dei Tesori, Beauty Star and Lob's brands), a cycling enthusiast, he supported research through numerous donations. The Foundation, created by his children Fabio and Annalisa, aims to contribute to the fight against brain tumors. The funds it raised, which amount to about 2 million, have been used to support research projects, fund scholarships, provide psychological counselling for patients and care-givers, purchase furniture and equipment for clinics and hospitals, universities and research centers in Italy.
For information: www.fondazioneceleghin.it and annalisa.celeghin [at] fondazioneceleghin.it