The new edition of “Preserving the Brain,” part of the “Human Brains” project dedicated since 2018 to neurosciences, focuses on the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases.
Organized in partnership with fifteen renowned neuroscience institutes from world-class universities and five Italian patient organizations and associations, “Preserving the Brain: A Call to Action” consists in a scientific conference and an exhibition which is accompanied by a series of meetings to be held in Milan.
Following the first two stages of the “Preserving the Brain” forum on neurodegenerative diseases, held in Milan and Shanghai in 2022 and 2023, this new edition aims to focus on the importance of prevention and early treatment of widespread and still incurable diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and Multiple Sclerosis. For this reason, “Preserving the Brain: A Call to Action” sees the participation of leading research centers, academics, patient associations, and organizations that operate in the field of brain health, as well as representatives of institutions. The main goal is a productive exchange among different stakeholders to promote specific actions related to modifiable factors on neurodegenerative diseases, leading up to a “call to action” addressed to a wide population, especially younger generations.
As Miuccia Prada, President and Director of Fondazione Prada, states, “This new edition of ‘Preserving the Brain’ shows how necessary it is to create an even stronger dialogue between the scientific world and the public of a cultural institution like Fondazione Prada. The themes of prevention and the active role of culture in this field concern everyone and specifically younger generations. It is therefore crucial to accompany scientific research and dissemination with awareness-raising activities and a program of concrete actions capable of influencing our behaviors, involving those who deal with neurodegenerative diseases on a daily basis, not only from a strictly medical perspective. We are pleased that this international forum has become, as we had hoped during the first edition, a recurring appointment that helps to connect research centers with each other and with a wider and more heterogeneous community.”
As Giancarlo Comi, Honorary Professor of Neurology at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan and President of the scientific committee of “Preserving the Brain”, underlines, “The brain, and therefore neural functions, represent the defining and distinguishing element of human beings. Neurodegenerative diseases, with the sensory, motor, and cognitive impairment they may provoke, pose a serious threat to full participation in various aspects of life. These diseases are rooted in a far distant time which we have only recently begun to uncover. Almost always, it is a combination of various roots, nourished by genetic and environmental factors, that generates the pathology. Prevention, which means identifying these roots, can help block their consequences. Some of these roots we plant ourselves, therefore individuals must play a direct role in the prevention process. This implies an active role of the individual not only at the time of the disease, but also in preventing it. The scientific exhibition, organized in a way that makes its content accessible to the public, and the meetings, organized in collaboration with patient organizations and associations, aim at involving the entire community and all its facets in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases.”
SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE | 16 – 17.10.2024
The conference “Prevention on Neurodegenerative Diseases” takes place at Fondazione Prada’s Cinema Godard in Milan. Under the scientific direction of Giancarlo Comi, the program has been conceived in dialogue with the fifteen research institutes involved in the project.
Each day is divided into four thematic sessions, each one featuring three lectures and an open discussion between the scientists and researchers. Each session address a specific topic, such as epidemiology, pollution, diet, sleep, protective factors, genes and other environmental factors, brain plasticity, and secondary prevention.
The conference is aimed at researchers, students, and institutional figures in the medical and healthcare sectors.
EXHIBITION AND MEETINGS | 16.10.2024 – 7.4.2025
The exhibition takes place in the Nord gallery of Fondazione Prada’s Milan premises. The project investigates the main themes addressed during the conference through scientific data and visual materials conceived by international researchers and designed by the New York 2×4 studio. The exhibition is articulated in eight sections and a space for exchange that will host mediation activities for visitors.
A series of eight meetings, developed with the patient organizations and associations involved in the project, accompany the exhibition from November 2024 to April 2025. The meetings are conceived with Michele Porcu and Mary Zurigo of Z.E.A. Zone di Esplorazione Artistica, a group of critical research and experimental design that investigates the various boundaries between art, design, architecture and other forms and languages of the contemporary, working particularly on fragility, supporting museum accessibility, social inclusion and artistic mediation, in projects such as “alzhalarte.” The meetings will include guided tours of the exhibition and the other projects of Fondazione Prada for patients and caregivers, moments of dialogue with young people and students, panels, roundtables, theatrical performances, workshops, and film screenings.
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTES INVOLVED
Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases, Boston, United States; Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Sorbonne University AP-HP, Neurology department and Paris Brain Institute, Paris, France; UniSR – Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Juntendo University Hospital, Neurology Department, Tokyo, Japan; Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) within the Helmholtz Association, Bonn, Germany; Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Munich, Germany; Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Canada; Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain; Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Neurology Department, Tianjin, China; UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; University College London, United Kingdom; University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Weizmann Institute of Science, Revohot, Israel; Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, United States.
The meetings connected to the exhibition and focused on five neurodegenerative diseases are promoted by organizations, patient associations and institutions devoted to supporting scientific research such as: AIMA Associazione Italiana Malattia di Alzheimer, AISM Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, AISLA – Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Laterale Amiotrofica and AriSLA – Fondazione Italiana di ricerca per la Sclerosi Laterale Amiotrofica, Confederazione Parkinson Italia, and Fondazione LIRH Lega Italiana Ricerca Huntington.