IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana

The San Raffaele Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Health Care (Italian acronym IRCCS) has been recognized in 2005 by the Italian Ministry of Health as a Research Institute in the field of motor and sensory rehabilitation in different areas of Medicine: Cardiology, Pneumology, ENT, Neurology, Orthopedics, and Developmental Disabilities.

The Institute has 298 beds distributed in ordinary inpatient and day hospital settings in the following Operating Units:

• Neuromotor Rehabilitation
  • Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Disorders Center
  • Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center
  • Headache and Neuropathic Pain Center
  • Multiple Sclerosis and Functional Neurological Diseases Center
• Pediatric Rehabilitation
• Rehabilitation cardiology – Center for the study of heart failure
• Respiratory Rehabilitation
• Medicine

The research activity of the San Raffaele Institute in Rome is mainly based on rehabilitation in all clinical conditions across the lifespan, with specific research groups on cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, respiratory, developmental disabilities, aging population, telemedicine and teleassistance, robotics, brain trauma and traumatic injuries.

Research is organized and coordinated in Research Areas, closely linked with the Operating Units and Departments dedicated to care and, for translational research.

Clinical laboratories, diagnostic imaging, and outpatient clinics provide important support to the clinic: the neurophysiopathology laboratory, gait analysis for the study of posture and movement, the cardiac function laboratory, audiology, phoniatric services, respiratory function laboratory, clinical pathology and advanced biotechnology, occupational therapy and functional reeducation, the neuropsychology service, and the robotics laboratory.

The Research Center, located in Via di Val Cannuta, has shared facilities and laboratories:  Multidisciplinary Biobank, Advanced Biotechnology and Biomarker Discovery, Cardiovascular Endocrinology, Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Molecular, Cellular and Ultrastructural Pathology, Electrophysiology, Experimental Neurophysiology, Biochemistry of Aging, Brain Connectivity laboratory, Bioengineering of Rehabilitation, Microbiology of Chronic Degenerative Diseases, Cellular and molecular pharmacology, Functional human genomics, Synaptic immunopathology, Human longevity program, Bioengineering of neurorehabilitation, Omics sciences and precision medicine, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Confocal microscopy and laser capture, Ultramicrotomy, Microscopy and cytofluorimetry.

The current research activity of the San Raffaele Institute is organized according to the following three institutional research lines:

• Preclinical factors determining the effectiveness of rehabilitation
• Disability clinic
• Innovation in medicine and rehabilitation.

In the context of the neuroscience network, the San Raffaele Institute’s approach aims for high efficiency and coordination among professional figures, innovative instrumentation and technologies, knowledge enabling their use, and sharing of protocols and results in a technology-driven perspective based on national/international guidelines and clinical recommendations.

The use of rehabilitation robotics and teleneurorehabilitation allows the translation of excellence to the patient’s bedside in terms of standardization of interventions, customizability of strategies, multimodality approaches, and continuity of care. A specific area of interest concerns stroke rehabilitation and research on all related issues such as synaptic plasticity, neuronal network architecture, the use of non-invasive brain stimulation methods, neuroinflammation with the aim of progressive tailoring of rehabilitation interventions in the various post-stroke phases.