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 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. Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized in part by a series of modifiable risk factors, the correction of which would have major consequences on an individual and collective level. To protect ourselves from the increasing prevalence of these diseases, it is crucial to act on modifiable risk factors, take care of the environment, promote healthy lifestyles, implement educational activities, and engage all actors of society and political institutions.
SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE
The conference “Prevention on Neurodegenerative Diseases” took place at Fondazione Prada’s Cinema Godard. 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 addressed to a specific topic, such as epidemiology, pollution, diet, sleep, protective factors, genes and other environmental factors, brain plasticity, and secondary prevention.
Visit the Human Brains website to read the program and watch the full conference.
EXHIBITION
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.
MEETINGS
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.
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 Scientific Director of “Preserving the Brain: A Call to Action”, underlined, “The brain, and therefore neural functions, represent the defining and distinguishing element of human beings. For this reason, the Brain Health campaign, which has recently been promoted by international agencies in conjunction with scientific societies in this field, requires a strong endorsement by all. The neurodegenerative diseases are complex pathologies and are almost always a combination of various genetic and environmental factors. We have only recently begun to unravel this complex skein and have realized that some of the environmental causes are roots of the disease that we plant ourselves, both individually and as social and political choices. Prevention therefore becomes fundamental to both reduce the risk of disease and improve its progression. The conference will compare the latest research developments by encouraging debates among experts from different fields. The exhibition linked to the conference aims to extend the fundamental aspects of prevention to the entire community and intends to do so through collaboration with the international scientific community and patient organizations and associations. These actors will explore some of the common and specific issues of different neurodegenerative diseases, which will also be the subject of discussions and meetings throughout the duration of the exhibition. To effectively tackle neurodegenerative diseases, it is essential that the entire community, in all its facets, be involved.”
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.