Sammy Basso

Sammy Basso (1 December 1995 – 5 October 2024) was an Italian biologist with progeria, and one of the oldest known survivors of the disease. Basso also took part in clinical trials for which he carried out research.

Early life and education Basso was born in 1995 in Schio, Italy, and grew up in Tezze sul Brenta, a small town near Venice. At the age of 2, he was diagnosed with progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that accelerates aging. In the world a mere 130 cases of progeria have been recognized. Basso graduated at the Liceo Scientifico Jacopo Da Ponte in Bassano del Grappa.

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. Basso documented this trip by writing the book Il viaggio di Sammy (Sammy's Journey), and recording some episodes that were broadcast by the Nat Geo People channel. 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.

On 13 February 2015, Basso was invited as a guest to the 65th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival, speaking about his illness. In 2016, he enrolled in a degree programme in Natural Sciences at the University of Padua with the intention of further researching progeria once he had completed his studies. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in natural sciences with 110 cum laude on 17 July 2018, and he obtained a Master of Science degree in Molecular Biology in English on 24 March 2021. On 7 June 2019, he received the insignia of the Knighthood of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, of which he had been awarded motu proprio by the Italian president Sergio Mattarella.

Contributions to scientific research During their first trip to the United States, Basso's parents had the opportunity to meet the parents of Sam Berns, another boy suffering from progeria and whose parents led to the establishment of the Progeria Research Foundation. This pathology is due to the mutation of the LMNA gene responsible for the production of two proteins: lamins A and C; the mutation causes the production of truncated lamins A, called progerins, which cause the premature ageing typical of the disease.

In 2006, the Basso family joined a progeria clinical study programme at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where the Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is based. At that centre, the complete collection of data on Basso's organs and apparatuses was carried out for the first time for research purposes. As a result of this programme, an experimental drug, Lonafarnib, a transferase inhibitor, was developed that might be able to slow down the course of the disease. This allowed the first clinical study of 28 children (including Basso) with progeria to be carried out in Boston in 2007. This was followed by a second, also in Boston, and a third in Marseille. At Basso's funeral, Giuliano Brugnotto, the Catholic bishop of Vicenza, opened the possibility of beatification owing to Basso's "deep and extraordinary" faith.

His spiritual testament was publicly read for a second time in Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, on 21 November 2024.

Personal life Basso was a Roman Catholic from his early life. A friend of Carlo Conti, who hosted Basso at the 2015 Sanremo Festival, and of the Italian singer Jovanotti, in November 2013 he received a phone call directly from Pope Francis.