XXI Compasso d'Oro. Un lustro che rischia d'invecchiare

Emerge infatti un'idea di design italiano ancora legata al mondo dell'arredo: quattro su dieci sono oggetti che appartengono al cosiddetto ambito del furniture design e, tra questi, tre sono sedute; al contrario, manca completamente il mondo del design per il lavoro e per i servizi, un settore che si è fortemente sviluppato rivestendo un ruolo sempre maggiore nella nostra quotidianità; infine non è stato premiato nessun oggetto dell'elettronica di consumo, né la ricerca d'impresa né quella teorica, storica e critica

Use of Synthetic Carbohydrates as Vaccine Components and Biomedical Research Tools

Characterization of GPI-specific antibody responses with carbohydrate microarrays. Plasmodium falciparum malaria affects about 500 million people worldwide and is responsible for approximately 2.5 million deaths per year. Drug resistance is a growing problem at a time when there is still no effective vaccine. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) is the major anchor for membrane-associated proteins of P. falciparum and there is growing evidence that this glycolipid plays a major role as a toxin in the pathology of malaria. It has been postulated that antibodies against plasmodial GPI mediate anti-toxic and anti-disease immunity against malaria and that GPI could be a suitable component of a malaria vaccine. Lack of a reliable method for the characterization of anti-GPI antibodies has made it difficult to generate strong supportive data for this hypothesis. We have established carbohydrate microarrays based on synthetic P. falciparum GPI glycans to study antibody responses to different structural elements of this complex antigen. Results demonstrated, that only part of the total anti-GPI response in individuals from malaria endemic regions is associated with exposure to malaria. Microarray-based epitope analyses with truncated GPIs demonstrated differences in the fine specificity of anti-GPI antibodies in malariaexposed and non-exposed populations and showed evidence for a correlation between the presence of anti-GPI antibodies with a certain fine specificity and resistance to severe malaria. The GPI microarray was also a valuable screening platform for the selection of GPI specific B cell hybridomas. The monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) generated were used to evaluate biological activities of anti-GPI antibodies in functional assays. These unique mAbs represent new research tools that will facilitate characterisation of the GPI-anchored proteome of protozoan parasites. Use of synthetic oligosaccharide to elicit Bacillus anthracis specific antibodies. Anthrax is an acute zoonotic disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. The recent use of B. anthracis spores as a biological weapon has stressed the need for efficient vaccines and detection systems. The similarity of spore cell surface antigens to other bacteria of the B. cereus group has made it difficult to create selective antibody-based detection systems. On the surface of B. anthracis spores a tetrasaccharide containing a novel monosaccharide (anthrose) has been discovered recently. Since anthrose was not found in spores of related strains of bacteria, we envisioned the detection of B. anthracis spores based on antibodies against anthrose-containing polysaccharides. Carbohydrate-protein conjugates containing the synthetic tetrasaccharide, an anthrose-rhamnose disaccharide or anthrose alone were employed to immunize mice. All three formulations were immunogenic and elicited IgG responses with different fine specificities. All sera and mAbs derived from tetrasaccharide immunized mice cross-reacted with spores of a panel of virulent B. anthracis strains, but also with some of the B. cereus strains tested. Although not strictly specific for B. anthracis spores, antibodies against the tetrasaccharide may have potential as immuno-capturing components for a highly sensitive spore detection system. Charakterisierung von GPI-spezifischen Antikörper-Antworten mit KohlenhydratMicroarrays. Plasmodium falciparum Malaria betrifft weltweit etwa 500 Millionen Menschen und ist verantwortlich für zirka 2.5 Millionen Todesfälle pro Jahr. Medikamentenresistenz ist ein wachsendes Problem und derzeit gibt es noch keine wirksame Impfung. Membranassoziierte Proteine von P. falciparum werden hauptsächlich durch Glykosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) verankert und vieles deutet darauf hin, dass dieses Glykolipid eine bedeutende Rolle als Toxin in der Malariapathologie spielt. Es wurde postuliert, dass GPI-spezifische Antikörper antitoxischeund antikrankheits- Immunität gegen Malaria vermitteln und dass GPI eine geeignete Komponente eines Malaria Impfstoffes sein könnte. Das Fehlen einer verlässlichen Methode zur Charakterisierung von anti-GPI Antikörpern hat die Validierung dieser Hypothese erschwert. Wir haben Kohlenhydrat-Microarrays basierend auf synthetischen P. falciparum GPI Glykanen etabliert, um Antikörperantworten gegen die verschiedenen strukturellen Elemente dieses komplexen Antigens zu untersuchen. Die Resultate zeigten, dass nur ein Teil der gesamten AntiGPI Antwort von Individuen aus Malaria endemischen Regionen mit Malariaexposition assoziiert ist. Microarray basierte Epitopanalysen mit verkürzten GPIs demonstrierten Unterschiede in der Feinspezifität von anti-GPI Antikörpern bei malariaexponierten und nicht exponierten Populationen. Die Analysen lieferten Evidenz für eine Korrelation zwischen der Präsenz von antiGPI Antikörpern einer bestimmten Feinspezifität und Resistenz gegen schwere Malaria. Der GPI Microarray fungierte auch als Plattform für die Selektion von GPI-spezifischen B Zell Hybridomen. Die generierten monoklonalen Antikörper (mAk) wurden verwendet um biologische Aktivitäten von anti-GPI Antikörpern in funktionellen Untersuchungen zu evaluieren. Diese mAk repräsentieren neue Forschungsinstrumente, welche die Charakterisierung des GPI verankerten Proteoms von parasitären Protozoen erleichtern werden. Anwendung von synthetischen Oligosacchariden zur Herstellung von Bacillus anthracis spezifischen Antikörpern. Anthrax ist eine akute Zoonose verursacht durch sporenbildende B. anthracis Bakterien. Da B. anthracis Sporen als biologische Waffe benutzt wurden, werden effiziente Vakzine und Detektionsmethoden dringend benötigt. Die Ähnlichkeit von Sporenoberflächenantigenen zu anderen Bakterien der B. cereus Gruppe hat die Entwicklung von selektiven antikörperbasierenden Detektionssystemen erschwert. An der Oberfläche von B. anthracis Sporen wurde kürzlich ein Tetrasaccharid mit einem neuen Monosaccharid (Anthrose) entdeckt. Da Anthrose in Sporen von eng verwandten Bakterien nicht gefunden wurde, haben wir die Detektion von B. anthracis Sporen basierend auf Antikörpern gegen synthetische, anthrosehaltige Polysaccharide anvisiert. Kohlenhydrat-Protein Konjugate mit dem Tetrasaccharid, einem Anthrose-Rhamnose Disaccharid und Anthrose alleine wurden verwendet, um Mäuse zu immunisieren. Alle drei Formulierungen waren immunogen und induzierten IgG Antworten mit unterschiedlichen Feinspezifitäten. Alle Seren und mAk, abgeleitet von einer Tetrasaccharid immunisierten Maus, kreuzreagierten mit Sporen von virulenten B. anthracis Stämmen, aber auch mit einigen getesteten B. cereus Stämmen. Obwohl Antikörper gegen das Tetrasaccharid nicht strikt spezifisch für B. anthracis Sporen sind, haben sie Potenzial als immunologische Komponente für ein hoch sensitives Sporen-Detektionssystems

Sustainable and Collaborative Innovation for the Territory

Innovation as manifold energy that must incessantly redefine itself and daily infrastructures, respect the planet and produce social effects. The focus on the potentiality of territories based on the transformation of existing infrastructural, economic, human, cognitive and cultural resources, is the aim of contemporary innovation. This essay focuses on the collaborative role that different players of a territory must have in order to launch and pursue innovation processes with the goal of environmental sustainability

Design for Sustainable Healthcare in a European context. A comparative analysis of Sustainable Healthcare and Design strategies in three European case studies.

In recent years, interest in Sustainable Healthcare has grown globally: many environmental issues are attracting great interest because they also represent a high cost for National Health Services. Resource consumption and waste production have huge environmental and economic impacts, deeply affecting the costs of medical treatments. Much research in recent years has focused on education and policy strategies to face these issues, but Design research could play a key role to integrate them, acting upstream the production process. This study aims to provide an overview on different European approaches to Sustainable Healthcare and Design for Healthcare, defining potentials and limitations to their development. The developed methodology combines two different levels of analysis, including macro (region) and micro (hospital and wards) environmental issues. The analysis has been applied to three different European case studies (from Italy, Sweden and Denmark). This allowed to highlight pros and cons of current international scenarios in regards of Sustainable Healthcare and Design strategies and their implementation

APPROCCIO SISTEMICO E GESTIONE MULTISCALA DEI DATI. 'Il caso studio ‘frigorifero'. / A SYSTEM APPROACH AND MULTISCALE DATA MANAGEMENT. A ‘refrigerator’ case study.

Numerose tecnologie digitali come l’Intenet of Things, l’Intelligenza Artificiale e il Ma-chine Learning potrebbero stravolgere il modo di concepire il processo progettuale, soprattutto quando impiegate per reperire informazioni indispensabili alla definizione del problema, individuare i requisiti e sostenere decisioni progettuali, tipiche della fase di pre-design. In questo saggio si riflette sulla complessità del progetto, sulla necessità di un approccio sistemico basato su metodi partecipativi e sull’utilizzo di prototipi co-me strumenti per sbloccare il potenziale, ancora ampiamente inesplorato, dell’utilizzo dei dati ai fini progettuali. In seguito a un esperimento condotto su un frigorifero, sono state inoltre tratte conclusioni su visioni future, aspetti metodologici di progettazione nell’ambito del design sistemico e sulla relazione tra dato e sostenibilità. Many digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Ma-chine Learning, could radically change the way of conceiving a design process, espe-cially when they are used to retrieve essential information to define a problem, identify the requirements and support design decisions, all of which are typical of the pre-de-sign phase. In this essay, we reflect on the complexity of designing, on the need for a systemic approach based on participatory methods and on the use of prototypes as tools to unlock the potential, albeit still largely untapped, use of data for design pur-poses. An experiment has been conducted on a refrigerator and conclusions have been drawn on future visions, methodological aspects in the field of systemic design and the relationship between data and sustainability

The quality of relationships among people is an increasingly important value

The communities' wellness is shifting from purely economical evaluations, embracing socio-cultural sphere too. By setting the human issue at the centre of the project is possible to solve current needs of the society more effectively. Systemic Design methodology is innovating its own design process by focusing on humanities. In particular we propose a case study in which the complexity of socio-cultural relationships represents the plusvalue to increase the quality of exchanges among different communities. Our project is based on a network (both virtual and real) among people involved in urban events, aimed to enrich them by the improvement of their relationships pattern. This project demonstrates how the global diffusion of socialnetworking dynamics could represent an useful tool for the communication among communities. In this way it emerges how a virtuously use of global dynamics into a good project represents an augmented link with daily human habits

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? Sequences and Genealogies in between Architecture and Design for a Global History

Some among the early “classics” of history of project, such as Giedion or Pevsner, united architecture and design leaning towards anonymity and industrialism and eliminating the division between the two disci- plines. They were related with an ideological notion of style: the “Modern”. Afterwards other approaches suggested another use of sequences of objects in a larger continuum instead of the use of “style” notion (Kubler, Bloch and Foucault). Joining these different points of start together with the latest contribution (Margolin, 2015) the paper aims to explore the possibilities given by compiling timelines and sequences that mix different approaches in a larg- er vision of the project disciplines to obtain the web for a global history implementable and queryable at different levels and using a broader range of design studies. The goal is trying to outline and schematically show a continuous conversation throughout time and space, maintaining the specificities of historical research and an inclusive and broader sight on the flow of time. To instruct a reflection on this opportunity the paper will wonder on the possibilities to organize se- quences on specific or general topics using tools as the managing of data flows and their representations