The second phase of the Mameli Project was officially launched on Saturday, April 5, during the project’s presentation to the public at the Sala degli Stemmi of Palazzo Malinverni.
“MAMELI” is the project led by Valentina Bollati, aimed at understanding how environment and lifestyle shape our DNA and influence our health. The project takes place in Legnano, the hometown of Prof. Bollati, who in 2023 was awarded the Civic Merit of the City.
“MAMELI is a study of fundamental scientific importance, as it allows us to explore how the environment and everyday lifestyles influence our health through epigenetic mechanisms that are still not fully understood. I chose to carry out this project in Legnano, my hometown, because of my deep connection to it and my profound knowledge of the area and its community. Actively involving the citizens of Legnano in this research represents for me a meaningful way to give back to my community, contributing together to a better understanding of the factors that determine our wellbeing and health,” declares Prof. Valentina Bollati.
MAMELI is developed by a large and qualified multidisciplinary research team composed of experts in epigenetics, molecular biology, environmental medicine, and urban sciences. The scientific lead for molecular epidemiology, biostatistics, and bioinformatics is Prof. Elia Biganzoli, Full Professor of Medical Statistics at DIBIC UNIMI, responsible for data management and analysis. The operational coordination is entrusted to Dr. Federica Rota of DISCCO UNIMI. The team includes researchers from the University of Milan, the University of Insubria, and other prestigious Italian research institutions.
“With MAMELI, we want to demonstrate that research can be participatory and rooted in local territories. This is a project that speaks to every citizen, because it studies the relationship between lifestyles, environment, and health. Starting from Legnano, we can build a replicable model elsewhere for the direct benefit of populations,” says Prof. Elia Biganzoli.
“MAMELI,” in addition to being a tribute to the author of the national anthem’s lyrics, which mentions Legnano, is an acronym for “MApping the Methylation of repetitive elements to track the Exposome effects on health: the city of Legnano as a LIving lab”.
“The participation of individuals in this project is an important voluntary gesture to help build knowledge and awareness about wellbeing and health” – comments Anna Pavan, Councilor for Wellbeing and Social Security – “knowledge that, given the scientific scope of MAMELI, will not remain the exclusive property of our community, but may set an example at the international level. I find it significant that MAMELI is part of the events of the Active Community Month, because the spirit of this project is precisely to raise awareness and involve people in a topic of great importance to everyone. With a small effort, each of us can contribute to a project whose results will be useful for the whole community. A big thank you to Professor Valentina Bollati for honoring her city by making it the focal point of an innovative research that projects us onto an international stage.”
Among the project’s added values is the fact that Legnano will also benefit from data on air quality, thanks to sixteen monitoring stations installed throughout the city to detect specific environmental parameters.
MAMELI is a project funded by the European Research Council with a contribution of nearly 3 million euros. It is supported by the Municipal Administration and by AVIS Milan and Legnano, which provides the necessary infrastructure to safely carry out blood samples. The main goal of MAMELI is to study epigenetic mechanisms (those changes in gene expression that do not involve changes in the DNA sequence) that mediate the effect of the exposome on health. The exposome represents the set of internal and external factors that influence human health over a lifetime. The link between exposome and health is supported by growing scientific evidence: wellbeing is closely related to behavioral, environmental, and occupational factors, many of which are, at least in part, modifiable.
The first phase of the project, launched in spring 2024, involved 200 volunteers from AVIS Legnano. With the second phase, MAMELI is now open to all adult citizens of Legnano. Those wishing to participate can apply by filling out the specific form available on the project’s official website: https://mameli.unimi.it.
After registering online, starting from Saturday, April 12, participants can go to the MAMELI Point, located in the guardhouse of the Town Hall (entrance from Piazza San Magno 9), to finalize their participation in the study and collect a smartwatch. This device will record some physiological parameters and their variability over time.
Participants will need to download and activate an app connected to the smartwatch, which will collect daily information on water and alcohol consumption, diet, smoking, and mood, through brief questions distributed throughout the day. By activating the GPS function, it will also be possible to monitor location and estimate individual environmental exposure.
A few days after activating the smartwatch, each participant will receive a questionnaire to fill out with information on health and lifestyle. Finally, at least two weeks after picking up the device, and upon request, participants will be invited to the AVIS headquarters in Legnano for a blood sample.
To ensure maximum privacy protection, all information and biological samples collected will be anonymized, and each entry in the database will be identified exclusively by a 10-digit numerical code. Personal data protection is a fundamental principle of the project.
The MAMELI Point will be open to the public from April 12, with the following hours:
- Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday: from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm
- Saturday: from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm
For more information and to follow the project’s progress, visit https://mameli.unimi.it and the Instagram profile mameli_2023.
Watch here the full video of the event here and don’t miss the press review!