Tag Archives: Italy

Some science and some serendipity

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What at first looks like a setback may be an opportunity in disguise, says Flavia Scialpi

I keep my business cards in the top drawer of my desk at work. They are in two bulky boxes and take up a lot of space, but I like them there because I can see them every time I pull out a pen. They are a memento of how very often you can’t foresee where an opportunity lies – and therefore to seize each and every one of them.

I have been in academia for almost half my life, and I am now engaged in my first position in industry at Synpromics, a biotech company. It is the first time in my professional career that I hold a position that requires and provides business cards.

New Accomodation at Roslin Innovation Centre

Scialpi’s new Accomodation at Roslin Innovation Centre

A few years ago I thought I wouldn’t have any chance to land a job in industry. Nor was I very interested in it, to be honest; I was content with academic research, greatly enjoying the highs and bitterly venting about the lows. I went for a well-trodden path; I got my PhD in Italy, where I’m from, and then ventured abroad for a postdoc. I felt the world was my oyster and I found a second home in beautiful Scotland. Continue reading →

Lost for words — the language of science communication

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While English is largely regarded as the global language of science, science communication doesn’t enjoy a unifying language.

Naturejobs journalism competition winner Catherine Carnovale explores this distinction.

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Finding a place to hang my lab coat

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Australia might be the land of surf, swim and sun, but something’s making all the scientists flee, says Naturejobs journalism competition winner Catherine Carnovale.

When now ex-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot abolished the role of science minister in September 2013, members of Australia’s scientific community fastened our seat belts. This telling sign signalled the first of many cuts to science and innovation before the new government delivered their knock-out punch to the industry in the form of the 2014-15 budget.

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Italian anti-GM group wins destruction of 30-year-old olive-tree project

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Diggers uprooting olive trees

The sudden government-ordered destruction of a 30-year-old publicly-funded research project in Italy involving transgenic olive trees, cherry trees and kiwifruit vines — one of the longest-running trials on genetic modification in Europe – began on Tuesday under pressure from an environmental group.

Eddo Rugini, a plant scientist at the University of Tuscia, launched his research in 1982, aiming to find varieties that are resistant to pathogens, mainly fungi and bacteria, so as to reduce pesticide use, as well as producing shorter trees that would ease cultivation in certain Italian landscapes.

In 1998, Rugini was given permission to grow the trees. But in 2002, Italy banned all field research of genetically engineered (GE) plants. Because the trees were already growing, he was granted an extension for his work until 2008. But in 2010, a second extension to 2014 was denied by regional authorities.

On 18 May, the Genetic Rights Foundation (GRF), a domestic environmental non-governmental organization, announced that it had “exposed the existence of an experimental field of GE trees” even though government permission had long since expired. It sent a formal letter to Rugini and the local authorities demanding that they immediately dispose of the experiment, in keeping with the law. As a result, the university was ordered to destroy the trees on 12 June. Continue reading →