Sammy Basso (1 December 1995 – 5 October 2024) was an Italian biologist, patient of progeria and one of the oldest known survivors of the disease.
[1] Basso was born in 1995 in Schio, Italy, and grew up in Tezze sul Brenta, a small town near Venice.
He earned a master's degree in molecular biology, contributing to significant research efforts aimed at understanding and treating the disease.
[3] Soon after his graduation, Basso took a trip to the United States with his parents, Laura and Amerigo, and his friend Riccardo, travelling along U.S. Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.
In the 2014–2015 academic year, he enrolled in the Physics degree programme at the University of Padua; his dream, once he had completed his studies, was to work at CERN in Geneva.
[2] On that occasion, the Basso family contributed to the activation of a bank of cell lines that can be used by those wishing to carry out research on progeria.
[1] Francis Collins, Basso's senior research colleague and companion, said: "We all knew that Sammy had a terrible circumstance that was not going to allow him to live a full life.
A friend of Carlo Conti,[17] who hosted Basso at the 2015 Sanremo Festival,[18] and of the Italian singer Jovanotti,[19] in November 2013 he received a phone call directly from Pope Francis.