EPICDIN - EPIGENETICA NELLE INDAGINI CARDIOVASCOLARI E DECESSI. APPROCCI IA GUIDATI, PROSPETTIVE DIAGNOSTICHE E INVESTIGATIVE PER LE MALATTIE CARDIACHE E LE MORTI IMPROVVISE INSPIEGABILI

The EpiCDIn project forms part of an international collaboration between the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and the University of Copenhagen, which has received funding of €70,000 from the Emilia-Romagna Region, earmarked for the feasibility phase currently underway and already approved by the Department. This phase involves conceptual, organisational and planning activities aimed at assessing the scientific, technological and economic sustainability of the project. The specific project aims to consolidate Emilia-Romagna as a leading scientific hub, seeking to attract Italian and foreign researchers and transfer research results with significant socio-economic impacts: advanced diagnostic tests, personalised cardiovascular prevention and the optimisation of post-mortem and clinical investigations, with benefits for citizens, the healthcare system and the judicial system. Collaboration with the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Cardiology in Copenhagen, a pioneer in the use of epigenetic methods in cardiac death, will be key to the development of integrated diagnostic strategies. A research team will be formed comprising forensic geneticists, forensic pathologists, cardiologists, biostatisticians and bioinformaticians, supplemented by PhD students and early-career researchers, with specialised expertise in molecular analysis, epidemiological screening and the development of predictive models based on artificial intelligence. The pilot study involves the selection of anonymised clinical and post-mortem samples, with an assessment of the most suitable biological matrices (blood, FFPE tissues, fresh tissues) and the identification of the most predictive epigenetic markers based on the literature and preliminary laboratory data, to be integrated into AI models. Methylation analysis methods such as microarrays, pyrosequencing and Nanopore will be compared, with an assessment of their sensitivity, robustness and reproducibility.