Contact person: Prof. Federico Alberici
Department: Department of Medicine and Surgery, Radiology and Public Health
Year of establishment: 2022
The Interuniversity Research Center Italian Renal Precision Network (IRENE) was established at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”. The Center also includes the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Rome), the University of Bologna, the University of Turin, and the University of Brescia (Department of Medical and Surgical Specialties, Radiological Sciences and Public Health).
The Center aims to:
- Develop a multicenter collaborative network for the omics, genotypic, and phenotypic analysis of patients with kidney disease undergoing kidney biopsy;
- Create a network of national biobanks, with branches at each of the founding centers, for the study of kidney diseases investigated by kidney biopsy, through close collaboration with national scientific societies, primarily the Italian Society of Nephrology (SIN) and its Renal Immunopathology Project Group, as well as international scientific societies;
- Become a national platform for sharing and collaboration, capable of collecting, storing, and analyzing, on a large scale, clinical, molecular, genetic, biopsy, and imaging information useful for the phenotypic characterization of kidney diseases;
- Promote and coordinate Master’s programs, advanced courses, continuing education, and higher education programs on kidney biopsy, renal histopathology, omics and imaging, and systems biology in nephrology;
- Expand the biopsy network (hub-and-spoke model) by establishing new spoke centers across the country through training courses;
- Establish collaborative relationships and enter into contracts and agreements with public and private research institutions and organizations operating at the regional, national, and international levels.