Prague, a rich programme of initiatives for the Made in Italy Day

The Italian Embassy in Prague, in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute, the ICE Agency and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), organised a rich programme of initiatives for the Made in Italy Day. On 18 April, the Conference "Spazio & Salute: dalle sfide degli astronauti alle scoperte nella medicina terrestre" (Space & Health: from the Astronauts' Challenges to Din Terrestrial Medicine) took place, opened by a speech delivered by the Italian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Mauro Marsili, on the importance of space research as a unique opportunity to accelerate the diagnosis and treatment of some of the most complex health problems on Earth.

The event was followed by a lecture by the Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori entitled "Living in Microgravity: Adaptation and Countermeasures", and by a round table discussion on the prospects for applying space medicine on Earth, coordinated by the Embassy's Space Attaché, Maria Cristina Falvella, with speeches by Dr. Carla Papadia, endocrinologist at the ASL Roma1; Professor Patrik Kutilek of the CVUT TechnicaH and Scientific University in Prague; researcher Elisa Scatena of the E. Amaldi Foundation; the Director of the Department of Nanofibres at the Technical University of Liberec, David Lukas; the Director of Science and Research at ASI, Mario Cosmo; and the Director of the Entrepreneurship and Environment Section of the European Union Agency for Space Program (EUSPA), Justyna Redelkiewicz Musial.

General Roberto Vittori - who flew with both the Soyuz spacecraft and the Shuttle, and visited the International Space Station (ISS) three times, where he conducted numerous "life science" tests - then met with students from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at CVUT and, on 19 April, gave an educational lecture dedicated to Czech and Italian school students at the Prague Planetarium.

In cooperation with the Czech Immunology Society, chaired by Italian scientist Luca Vannucci, the Made in Italy Day celebrations will conclude on 25 April at 1:00 p.m., in the Conference Hall of the Prague Institute of Physiology - located in the campus of the Institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic - with a lectio magistralis by Professor Adriana Albini, Professor of General Pathology at the University of Milan Bicocca, collaborating with the Scientific Directorate of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, on the topic "Nutrition and Physical Activity for Immunology and Prevention".