ACT4TRAIN
Advanced training programs in innovative diagnostic approaches and technologies for transmissible and non-transmissible diseases
Budget: € 627,000
The regions of Southern Italy (Mezzogiorno) have significant untapped potential in the field of health-related Research and Development (R&D) and in the productive sector, particularly with regard to diagnostic technologies for the prevention, early diagnosis and integrated management of communicable and non-communicable diseases. This potential is underpinned by a growing network of universities, research centres and emerging companies operating in the biotech, pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors. However, this potential remains largely underexploited due to persistent structural challenges. These include, in particular, a shortage of highly specialised skills within the local workforce, fragmented and inadequate training pathways that do not sufficiently meet market needs, and weak integration among academia, research institutions and the business community. These factors limit the ability of the regional ecosystem to attract investment, generate innovation and effectively contribute to the development of cutting-edge diagnostic solutions.
In this context, advanced training represents a strategic lever for bridging the territorial skills gap, promoting technological transition and strengthening the capacity of the healthcare and productive system to respond to emerging challenges. The continuous evolution of technologies and scientific methodologies makes it necessary to constantly update skills, with a particular focus on innovation-intensive fields such as omics sciences and technologies, biotechnology, artificial intelligence applied to diagnostics, and the analysis of clinical big data.
The ACT4TRAIN project has been established to provide a concrete and sustainable response to the needs of the R&D and business sectors, particularly SMEs, in the Less Developed Regions of Southern Italy, in line with national and European strategic objectives. ACT4TRAIN training content focuses on strategic areas with high innovation potential, including personalised medicine, advanced biotechnology, omics sciences, sustainable management of healthcare processes and pharmaceutical innovation. Each module is designed with particular emphasis on the integration of scientific knowledge, enabling technologies and transversal skills, with the aim of developing human capital capable of driving and supporting the transformation of the Italian healthcare system while also strengthening and innovating the productive sector within the local, regional and national ecosystem.
Given the dynamic and constantly evolving nature of the healthcare R&D sector, which requires increasingly specialised and up-to-date skills, the training content will be reviewed and adapted annually based on technological and scientific advances and feedback received from learners and companies, in order to ensure training that is consistently up to date, targeted and aligned with sector needs.
ACT4TRAIN will employ high-quality teaching methods whose main strengths include:
- an interactive, experiential and competency-based approach, integrating lectures, practical activities, webinars and site/study visits, at least some of which will be delivered in a hybrid format;
- customisable training pathways, tailored to participants’ initial level of knowledge and specific training needs;
- lecturers and experts from the private sector, with proven teaching capabilities and recognised expertise at national and international level, working at the Operational Units involved in ACT4TRAIN or at one of the 70 institutions within the INF-ACT network.
Overall, the training activities will contribute to bridging the skills gap, triggering virtuous mechanisms of growth and innovation for businesses in Southern Italy, with a lasting impact on competitiveness, employment and territorial development. In particular, the training of qualified professionals will support talent retention and enhance companies’ internal capacity for innovation. These are essential prerequisites for enabling businesses to adopt new technologies and accelerate the development of innovative products and services, thereby providing a strong impetus to the digital and technological transformation of the healthcare sector in Southern Italy.
The proposed training activities will also foster collaboration between local and national businesses and research centres, facilitating technology transfer and the co-design of high-value-added solutions, while providing access to networks of excellence that can strengthen their competitiveness at national and European level. In this way, investment in advanced training makes a concrete contribution to counteracting the geographical polarisation of skills, promoting territorial equity in access to innovation and fostering the emergence of local knowledge ecosystems capable of attracting resources, generating qualified employment and stimulating scientific entrepreneurship.
Realized with the contribution of the European Union under the National Research, Innovation and Competitiveness Programme for the Green and Digital Transition 2021–2027 (PN RIC 21–27), Call DD 307 of 18/03/2025, Action 1.4.3 “Strengthening skills for the effective functioning of the innovation ecosystem”, MI 462
Institutions involved
Researchers involved
Federica Zacchini
Coordinatore
Fondazione INF-ACT
Federica Zacchini obtained her MSc in Reproductive Biotechnology in 2008 and her PhD in Epidemiology and Advanced Diagnostics in Comparative Pathology in 2011 from the University of Teramo, Italy. From 2012 to 2015, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Teramo. Since 2015, Dr Zacchini has been involved in both national and international research projects, while also working in grant writing and project management. During this period, she gained professional experience in Poland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In these roles, she collaborated with numerous research institutions and companies, actively contributing to all stages of the project lifecycle, from proposal development to project implementation and both scientific and administrative management. She has also coordinated two research projects and was awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship. From 2021 to 2023, she served as Project Manager at King's College London. Dr Zacchini has extensive experience in the design, management, and delivery of training and capacity-building activities, as well as in the planning and implementation of dissemination and communication activities within research and innovation projects.Since 2023, she has been serving as Program Research Manager at the INF-ACT Foundation.
Nicole Grandi
WP Leader
Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Nicole Grandi obtained her Master’s degree in Health Biology cum laude from the University of Bologna in 2012 and her PhD in Life, Environmental and Drug Sciences from the University of Cagliari in 2017. In 2019, she joined the University of Cagliari as a researcher and was appointed Associate Professor of Microbiology in 2025. She leads the Bioinformatics Unit within the Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, where her research integrates molecular virology and microbiology with the computational analysis of omics data. Her main research focus is on human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), including the characterization of their genomic integration sites and expression profiles in transcriptomic datasets. Her work investigates HERV elements specifically modulated in cancer, autoimmune diseases, and viral infections, aiming to elucidate their contribution to disease and assess their potential as innovative biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Particular attention is devoted to the interplay between viral gene transcription and host immune responses. More recently, she has applied metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches to characterize environmental microbial communities, investigate their biodiversity and ecological functions, and explore their biotechnological potential.
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