“United We Win”: The Italian Flag Illuminates ISMETT

“United We Stand": ISMETT Lighted Up with the Italian Flag

Founded in Palermo thanks to the partnership with UPMC, today ISMETT is involved in the study and research to develop a vaccine against COVID-19.

Health care institutions part of PRO (Partner Rete Operativa), a network created in Palermo to provide free support to all institutions engaged in the fight against COVID-19, will light up the Istituto Mediterraneo per i Trapianti e Terapie ad Alta Specializzazione (ISMETT) of Palermo in the colors of the Italian flag, every day until April 27, from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., an initiative praised by the President of the Sicilian Region Nello Musumeci.

This token gesture is the visible evidence of the gratitude and support to all the people who have contributed and are continuing to contribute to scientific research, the only tangible weapon in this fight that involves the entire planet.

The only hope to contain and manage the COVID-19 pandemic are the studies and experimentations, already started weeks ago, carried out by different institutions across the world. Though still ongoing, encouraging results have been reached by UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), a founding member of ISMETT in partnership with the Region of Sicily.

“ISMETT and Ri.MED are supporting the Region of Sicily to cope with the COVID-19 emergency with patient care and research. The Ri.MED Foundation, in particular, has donated €1 million to ISMETT for COVID-19 research projects," said Dr. Angelo Luca, ISMETT CEO.

In recent weeks, a team of physicians and scientists in Pittsburgh has successfully experimented on mice a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that caused the current pandemic. This is the first study published after the peer-review from scientists of other institutes, and will now withstand the further verification phases. Its first, extremely promising, tests are a source of pride for Sicily and Italy.

Together with the Region of Sicily, UPMC was instrumental in securing the arrival in Sicily of the medical and clinical supplies required by physicians and health care providers in their fight against COVID-19.