Bangalore, India - On April 26, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Bangalore, India between IFOM, the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan, and inSTEM (the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine) in Bangalore. The memorandum signed by IFOM Scientific Director Marco Foiani and K. VijayRaghavan, Scientific Director of both inStem and NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences), initiates a close scientific collaboration in molecular oncology research and follows an agreement signed between the institutes in 2009.  “This memorandum– says Professor Marco Foiani – constitutes a precious research opportunity for IFOM, a synergy with the best institution of a Country that represents one of the most promising incubators of scientific and technological development in the world. This operation is part of an internationalisation strategy at IFOM that resulted in a similar agreement with A*STAR of Singapore in 2011. Indeed, we are confident that the future of scientific research requires international collaboration between innovative research centres and that only in this way can Italian research become truly competitive and enter into the global scientific debate." Professor K. VijayRaghavan, who was recently nominated to the Royal Society, the prestigious British scientific academy regarded as the world’s paramount scientific institution, commented: “Our quest for understanding of life’s scientific principles and for the applications of this understanding to the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants seems a formidable, indeed impossible, task. Yet, when groups of energetic and thinking people with complementary strengths get together, the wall of impossibility begins to crumble. Our colleagues at IFOM bring a strong foundation, comparable to the best anywhere, in cell and molecular biology in health and in diseases such as cancer. In Bangalore NCBS has developed an enviable foundation in the Life Sciences, of all kinds, on which new and focused teams are growing at inStem. The IFOM-inStem/NCBS joint laboratory integrates these partners’ strengths in a very new and exciting direction in skin stem-cell biology that will surely be very rewarding. My colleagues and I will continue to do all it takes to makes this venture successful and develop stronger links on this foundation.” The first result of this signing will be the initiation of a joint research program in the coming months in the high-tech laboratories of inSTEM. The research program will reflect the shared strategic, scientific and technological objectives of the two institutes and will be developed in one of the most promising and interdisciplinary areas of science:  regenerative medicine. Colin Jamora, the brilliant young Hawaiian scientist currently at the University of California in San Diego, will direct the first research team created by the IFOM-inSTEM agreement. The team will consist of 6 researchers of international standing and study the molecular processes of tissue regeneration from adult stem cells and the application of this knowledge in cancer research, diabetes and atopic dermatitis, as well as the repair of damaged organs that have limited regenerative abilities, such as the heart and brain.