Starting in June 1999, a new type of biomedical research fellowship will be available in Italy, funded by the television charity, Telethon Italia, which will become the first private body in the country to sponsor full-time research positions in academic institutions.

Seven assistant scientists (each attracting IL60 million (US$ 35,000) in salary and IL80 million for research costs, annually), two associate fellows (IL110 million salary, IL180 million for research) and one senior Telethon scientist position open to international investigators (IL 160 million salary, IL500 million for research) will be available under the scheme.

The Telethon brings with it a fresh approach to biomedical research in Italy. According to Francesca Pasinelli, Telethon's director of scientific development, it is only now that private bodies have been free to set up such positions. This is because universities are finally becoming more flexible and relinquishing objections to allowing new, temporary researchers— fellowships will run for five-year periods, a short term of employment in a country where academics enjoy lifelong tensurship—selected by external organizations, into their traditional academic environment.

Fellows will be chosen by the Telethon's scientific committee that meets in Rome twice a year, and that includes not only Italian investigators, but non-Italian distinguished scientists such as Eric Hoffman (University of Pittsburgh), Kay Davies and Anthony Monaco (both at Oxford University). Chair of the committee, Salvatore Di Mauro a neurologist at Columbia University, believes that the presence of international and expatriate scientists on the selection panel has enabled it to eliminate the type of favoritism known to plague Italian academia.

Committee member, Pietro De Camilli (Yale University), expects the program to have an impact well beyond the creation of new positions. "For the first time decisions upon important research positions will be disengaged from the traditional track tainted by political considerations," says De Camilli.

As with Telethons in many other countries, Telethon Italia's original goal was to raise funds for muscular dystrophy research. But with an annual fund of IL30 billion, the Telethon has become the second largest biomedical research charity in the country and has expanded its research targets to fund over 900 grants on a variety of inherited disorders. The only area not supported by the group is cancer genetics, which is served by the Italian Association for Cancer Research with an annual budget of IL40 billion.

Telethon Italia also funds two Milan based institutes: TIGEM, which is directed by Andrea Ballabio and devoted to medical genetics and the gene therapy institute, Hospital San Rafaelle TIGET, directed by Claudio Bordignon. The charity also began a program in 1995 that has repatriated 30 Italian investigators trained in foreign laboratories through a $50,000 'seed money' grant that is used to establish a laboratory in Italy.