The Unit conducts activities that span across the department's laboratories, aiming to identify circulating biomarkers of brain and cardiovascular damage. The goal is to understand individual susceptibility and the mechanisms underlying the chronic progression of neurological or cardiac damage following an acute ischemic, hemorrhagic, or traumatic event. This is intended to refine diagnosis, predict clinical outcomes, and identify new treatments for patients.

The Department Unit manages and coordinates the SATURNE biobank, which is part of the "Mario Negri" Biological Resources Center and has been ISO 9001:2015 certified since 2014 for the "collection, preservation, and distribution of biological samples and related data for scientific research studies." Over the past 15 years, it has collected more than 60,000 biological samples (such as plasma, blood, and serum) from subjects involved in clinical studies, mainly in the cardiovascular and emergency fields (e.g., myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, sepsis, and traumatic brain injury).

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