Parliament seeking funds for EBRI brain research institute

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 19 - 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. (ANSA).