“THEl DNA? A very long book, like the Divine Comedy, where genes are single words. But a small mistake is enough, and the Divine becomes the Bovine Comedy“. TO FameLab Italythe talent of science, Valentina Vavassori, 29, researcher of the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) presented with this simple, clear and captivating three-minute videoto explain gene therapy through Dante, and thus won the final. And there she triumphed, through a another short video, dedicated to Beethoven and epigenetics.
Valentina Vavassori, researcher of the S. Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) at the final of the FameLab Italia 2022 competition which she won.
Valentina, who is also Telethon face on Instagram, he obtained his PhD in Medical Biotechnology working in the laboratory of the director of the SR-Tiget, Professor Luigi Naldini. In this period however is doing an internship on scientific communication at the Normale di Pisa. “I was already passionate about scientific communication just by preparing some Instagram content for Telethon,” she says. “I like to enhance the beauty of science through poetry, music, art in general. I also believe that correct and clear communication is necessary, we realized this during Covid ».
Valentina Vavassori: “Gene therapy is like Charon”
For the video on gene therapy and Dante, Valentina compared DNA to the Divine Comedy, and gene therapy to a ferryman, Charon, who transports the correct gene – or word – into the cells of patients. «I tell a story of hope, because thanks to gene therapy, many people have managed to see the stars again“. At the Italian final, where she won the first prize, she explained through‘Ode to joy epigenetics, ie the study of DNA modifications that do not involve changes in the sequence: “The soundtrack of our life is an immense 3 billion note score, where 25 thousand lines stand out from the others, and represent DNA. And it is precisely epigenetics that decides the interpretation of the score ».
These days, the young researcher is preparing for the international final of FameLab, which will take place on November 25th: «I think I will present a new video on Dante, this time in English. Even abroad there Divine Comedy it is well known and loved ». For her future, Valentina does not yet know if she will continue with research or if scientific communication will become a real job for her. Will it be the new Piero Angela?
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED