About TIGEM

The Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) was created in 1994 by the Telethon Foundation, one of Italy’s major non-profit organizations, to promote the advancement of research aimed at the diagnosis, prevention and cure of human genetic diseases. TIGEM's mission is to understand the mechanisms of genetic diseases and to develop therapeutic and preventive strategies. The scope of the science currently covered at TIGEM spans three disease areas: developmental disorders, inherited eye diseases and inborn errors of metabolism. Research approaches include molecular genetics, cell biology, protein biochemistry, transgenic mice, bioinformatics, functional genomics, systems biology and gene therapy.

Since its foundation, TIGEM has become an international reference centre for research on genetic diseases. The Institute currently hosts 13 independent research groups with over 170 members including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, technicians and administration. TIGEM laboratories are part of a science and technology research area, which also includes the CNR's Institutes of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) and of Protein Biochemistry (IBP).

TIGEM provides a favourable and productive environment to its staff, students, and visiting scientists for the development of a critical mass for genetic research. Scientists at TIGEM are assisted by Core Facilities that provide centralized expertise and state-of the-art technologies for several activities. The Institute also offers graduate programmes in human genetics, functional genomics and molecular medicine in cooperation with the Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, the Seconda Università degli studi di Napoli, and the British Open University.

TIGEM's structural and research costs are covered by funding from the Telethon Foundation and the local government "Regione Campania". Investigators are also funded by prestigious international funding agencies such as the European Union, the National Institute of Health, the European Molecular Biology Foundation (EMBO) and the Wellcome Trust, among others. In the last years TIGEM has played a forefront role in European mouse functional genomic projects and is presently part of 14 EU funded consortia (EURExpress, COBIOS, EUCILIA, AAVEYE, CardioGeNet, FLPFLEX, EUMODIC, AnEUploidy, CLINIGENE, DiMI, INTERDEVO, EVI-GENORET, RETNET and EUCLYD), five of which are coordinated and managed by TIGEM.