Rome, Wednesday June 24, 2026 \u2013 The Candiolo IRCCS Institute turns 30 and becomes INOC \u2013 Istituto Nazionale Oncologico Candiolo (Candiolo National Oncology Institute)<\/strong>, opening a new era in precision oncology research thanks to a new Biobank, which will be the largest in Italy. The announcement was made today in the presence of Health Minister Schillaci, the national medical-scientific community, associations and companies, just days after the 40th anniversary of the Fondazione Piemontese per la Ricerca sul Cancro, which marked the occasion by changing its name to Fondazione Allegra Agnelli, as an act of recognition of an enlightened and personal commitment, pursued with passion and determination. Two anniversaries and two new names that not only represent an important milestone, but also the projection into the future of an extraordinary legacy. A commitment that reflects and consecrates, on one hand, the excellence of the Candiolo IRCCS Institute in cancer research and treatment, recognized both nationally and internationally, and on the other, bears witness to a renewed challenge for the Foundation, ever larger and more ambitious, which with an investment of 250 million euros aims to expand the Institute’s research capacity and clinical impact by 2035. A transformation, beginning in autumn, that strengthens the mission of both institutions \u2013 to stand by patients and make cancer treatments more effective and accessible in the shortest time possible \u2013 while at the same time providing a further stimulus and incentive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MINISTER SCHILLACI: WE CELEBRATE AN EXCELLENCE THAT CONTINUES TO GROW<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “On this occasion we celebrate an excellence that continues to grow, to renew itself and to engage with new challenges and knowledge in order to ensure ever more targeted treatments. Today, thanks to the remarkable progress made in the fight against cancer, which allows for high recovery rates, the commitment increasingly becomes that of guaranteeing cancer patients personalised therapeutic pathways, capable of responding to the biological and clinical characteristics of each individual. I truly believe that personalised medicine is the innovation that, more than any other, puts the patient back at the centre, allowing us to look at the person and not just the disease. It is a challenge within our reach and one we can win, thanks to institutions like INOC which, with commitment, passion and determination, constantly set themselves new goals to ensure citizens the most advanced treatments and therapies,” declared Health Minister Orazio Schillaci<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CANDIOLO, A DREAM BORN 40 YEARS AGO THAT LIVES ON FOR A FUTURE FREE FROM CANCER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Giving concrete form to the dream of defeating cancer means transforming hope into ever better tools for research and treatment at the service of the patient. Candiolo was born as a place of the community and for the community, founded on values of excellence, humanity, accessibility and trust, which guided my personal decision to become involved forty years ago and which today are the driving force behind Candiolo’s growth project and a point of reference for all those who work in the name of the Foundation and the Institute,” says Allegra Agnelli, President of Fondazione Allegra Agnelli per la Ricerca sul Cancro<\/strong>. “In these forty years, giant strides have been made in the fight against cancer, and today we are ready to support the Institute with a significant investment that places patients at the centre. An extraordinary role and legacy that does us honour, but requires constant commitment and updating for the future, with the same passion and sense of responsibility as at the outset, because there will always be a therapy to improve and one more hope of a cure to offer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE CANDIOLO MODEL AND THE CHALLENGES AHEAD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Candiolo Institute is a private, non-profit cancer research and treatment centre. It represents a strongly virtuous example: it is founded on the principle of private support in favour of the public interest, with care and research activities entirely at the service of public healthcare; it is a highly technology-intensive institution; and it is capable of attracting the best young talent, both Italian and international,” states Andrea Agnelli, President of INOC<\/strong>. “After 30 years of results, growth and innovation, the Institute today takes on a new identity: INOC, Istituto Nazionale Oncologico Candiolo. It is not just a new name: it represents Candiolo’s transition to becoming a point of reference in precision oncology. In this journey, a central role belongs to Fondazione Allegra Agnelli, which has accompanied with a clear vision the birth and growth of the Institute, now endowing it with renewed ambition and a very long-term vision. This is thanks to the ‘Crescere Insieme’ (‘Growing Together’) strategy, developed jointly by the two foundations over the last two years, which has supported above all infrastructural development with an investment of 250 million euros. For INOC, a decisive challenge will be internationalisation: to remain competitive and relevant it will be necessary to strengthen structured collaborations with the leading Italian, European and global oncology centres, to participate in major research networks and to increasingly attract talent, expertise and projects from abroad, at the service of everyone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n WITH INOC, PRECISION ONCOLOGY RESEARCH TAKES A QUALITATIVE LEAP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The greatest challenge of modern oncology is to defeat cancer through precision medicine, to treat the disease not in the abstract but based on the biological and genetic profile of each individual tumour and patient,” states Anna Sapino, Scientific Director of INOC<\/strong>. “With the birth of INOC, precision oncology research takes a qualitative leap and enters a new era, thanks above all to the Biolife project, a structural and technological research platform, which includes the Biobank, the Organoid Centre, the Advanced Omics Centre and a connection to the clinical data repository. The beating heart of Biolife will be the Biobank: with a surface area of 3,000 square metres, it will be Italy’s largest ‘living archive’ of human biological samples associated with clinical data, used to create ‘in vitro’ patient cohorts. The new facility will collect and preserve everything from tissues to plasma, from DNA to blood, to saliva and faeces, so as to preserve all the biological components provided by the patient, so that nothing is lost. The preservation of ‘vital’ samples is the crucial piece in the functioning of the Organoid Centre, an innovative laboratory which, using advanced technologies, will allow not only the replication of 3D mini-models of individual tumours derived from diseased cells, but also the microenvironment in which they grow, with blood vessels, immune system cells and fibroblasts, to recreate in the laboratory the tumour as it exists in the body and to observe how all the defensive components deployed respond. All of this will make it possible to test new drugs through large-scale pharmacological screening, to offer tailored cancer therapies not only to our patients but also to all those with the same molecular characteristics,” Sapino clarifies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the new frontier of research for the personalisation of care at INOC does not stop there, and will also involve the analysis of patient DNA variants that may influence drug response, starting from the “pharmacogenomic passport.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is a genetic identity card for the patient that will reveal how each individual’s body metabolises drugs. In clinical practice, this will translate into more targeted therapies, not only anti-cancer treatments, but also, for example, antibiotics or stomach antacids, to reduce the risk of ‘attempts’ at ineffective or even harmful treatments,” says Sapino. “An approach that AIFA has already indicated as a strategic direction for the national health system, and which INOC is putting itself forward to implement for the first time on a large scale, starting from the most vulnerable patients to open the way for everyone. Innovative studies that will allow the creation of an advanced system for predictive analysis of the risk of toxicity and complications. In the Advanced Omics Centre, the integration of genomic data from the patient and the tumour with dynamic data from proteomics and metabolomics will allow a holistic view of the disease of cancer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n THE NEW DEVELOPMENT PLAN: GROWING TO TREAT BETTER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Institute enters a new phase of its history through a ten-year development plan that will begin in autumn, a concrete representation of INOC’s strategy to strengthen the link between research, care and hospitality. An expansion of 35,000 square metres will bring the total surface area to over 95,000 by 2035, of which 19,000 will be dedicated to clinical activities, 6,000 to research and 10,000 to technological spaces for humanisation and sociality: a place where science and humanity will meet with a single objective, placing the patient at the centre of a project that not only expands physical spaces, but strengthens the integration between research and care, founded on the most qualified expertise and the most innovative and advanced technologies,” explains Salvatore Nieddu, General Director of INOC<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A virtuous model of synergy between the private sector and the national health service for the oncology of the future, which will make available 50 additional accredited beds to add to the current 150.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The operational heart of the project will be the new technological platform, designed to evolve over time. It will house integrated diagnostic imaging and up to 15 high-technology operating theatres, intended for major robotic and minimally invasive surgery and advanced endoscopic interventional procedures. The theatres will be equipped with intraoperative imaging, surgical navigation systems and connectivity for streaming to teaching rooms and simulation centres. The aim is to complement diagnosis and treatment activities with a true ‘living lab’ for the prototyping and incubation of new technologies, in a real and controlled hospital environment, suited to real-world studies. The new hospital will also house the ‘Nuvola dei Saperi’ (‘Cloud of Knowledge’), a space for daily encounter between clinicians and researchers, where physical proximity fosters more rapid exchange between clinical needs and the potential of biomedical research, a distinctive hallmark of an IRCCS capable of generating recognised results.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Green and eco-sustainable, INOC will be entirely powered by renewable energy sources produced in the local area and set within a 20,000 square metre park where contact with green space will be an integral part of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The fundamental principle inspiring the INOC project is indeed that of One Health, that is, the awareness that our health cannot be dissociated from the health of everything around us, from plants to animals, to the ecosystem. Our aim is therefore to give the outdoor spaces, the congress centre and the common areas the same centrality as what happens inside the hospital, integrating attention to the patient with attention to the environment,” says Carlo Ratti, founder of CRA \u2013 Carlo Ratti Associati, who will carry out the landscaping project and the new Congress Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “A structural, technological and scientific evolution that will combine greater humanisation of care with ever more tailored and cutting-edge therapies, placing the patient at the centre not only as a sick person, but as a whole human being,” concludes Nieddu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A New Era of Precision Medicine Research Begins, Thanks to the Biolife Project and Italy\u2019s Largest \u201cLiving\u201d Biobank<\/p>\n Rome, Wednesday …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":8612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n