Fondazione Prada

SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE
Prevention on Neurodegenerative Diseases
16 - 17 OCTOBER 2024

Under the scientific direction of Giancarlo Comi, the conference has been conceived in dialogue with the fifteen research institutes involved in the project. The conference is aimed at researchers, students, and institutional figures in the medical and healthcare sectors.

Each day is divided into four thematic sessions, each one featuring three lectures and an open discussion between the scientists and researchers. Each session  addresses a specific topic, such as epidemiology, pollution, diet, sleep, protective factors, genes and other environmental factors, brain plasticity, and secondary prevention The first day concludes with a keynote on the role of artificial intelligence in preventing neurodegenerative diseases. The second day is completed by two additional keynotes dedicated to the impact of climate change on these diseases and the role of biomolecular markers in risk stratification. A roundtable with representatives from patient organizations and associations, health authorities and academics, pharmaceutical companies, and service providers addresses priorities, actions, and future challenges in prevention of neurodegenerative diseases.

The conference took place at Fondazione Prada’s Cinema Godard in Milan, you can watch the streaming below.

16 October

17 October

Full program

DAY 1
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM | Introduction
Giancarlo Comi (Scientific Director of “Preserving the Brain: A Call to Action”)
Elena Moro (President of European Academy of Neurology, Wien, Austria)

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM | Session 1
Epidemiology
Moderator:
Elena Moro (European Academy of Neurology, Wien, Austria)

9:00 AM – 9:20 AM
Burden of neurodegenerative diseases
Amy Lastuka (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – University of Washington, USA)

9:20 AM – 9:40 AM
Optimizing brain health across the life course: a WHO perspective
Katrin Seeher (World Health Organization, Geneve, Switzerland)

9:40 AM – 10:00 AM
Modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors in the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases
Monique Breteler (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany)

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Open discussion

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Session 2
Pollution
Moderator:
Carlo Ferrarese (Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Milan, and Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza, Italy)

11:00 AM – 11:20 AM
Multiple Sclerosis
Lars Alfredsson (Institute of Environmental Medicine – Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)

11:20 AM – 11:40 AM
Parkinson’s Disease. Steps to prevention
Caroline Tanner (UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences – University of California San Francisco, USA)

11:40 AM – 12:00 PM
Pollution and Alzheimer’s disease
Kaarin Jane Anstey (Ageing Futures Institute – University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia)

12:00 PM – 12:30 PM
Open discussion

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Session 3
Food
Moderator:
Taiji Tsunemi (Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan)

2:00 PM – 2:20 PM
Food and neurodegenerative diseases
Ilana Katz Sand (The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, USA)

2:20 PM – 2:40 PM
Host-microbiome interaction in health and disease
Elinav Eran (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and National German Cancer Center, Heidelberg, Germany)

2:40 PM – 3:00 PM
Gut microbiota and Parkinson’s Disease
Gonzalo Torres (Stritch School of Medicine – Loyola University, Chicago, USA)

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Open discussion

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Session 4
Sleep
Moderator:
Luigi Ferini Strambi (UniSR – Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy)

4:00 PM – 4:20 PM
Time to wake up to sleep and Dementia Prevention
Kristine Yaffe (Center for Population Brain Health – University of California San Francisco, USA)

4:20 PM – 4:40 PM
The glymphatic system on neurodegenerative diseases
Marios Politis (Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre and Neurodegeneration Imaging Group (NIG) – University of Exeter Medical School, UK)

4:40 PM – 5:00 PM
The burden of wake and the reasons for sleep
Chiara Cirelli (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA)

5:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Open discussion

5:30 PM – 6:00 PM | Key-note 1

5:30 PM – 5:35 PM
Introduction
Alexis Brice (Paris Brain Institute – Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France)

5:35 PM – 5:55 PM
Predict to prevent neurodegenerative diseases: How artificial intelligence opens up new perspectives
Stanley Durrleman (Paris Brain Institute – Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France)

5:55 PM – 6:00 PM
Discussion

DAY 2
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM | SESSION 5 | PROTECTIVE FACTORS
Moderator: Vincenzo di Lazzaro (Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, Rome, Italy)

8:30 AM – 8:50 AM
Neurobiology of environmental enrichment
Diego Centonze (Università Tor Vergata, Rome and IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy)

8:50 AM – 9:10 AM
Mechanisms of the beneficial effect of physical exercise on cognition
Margaret Fahnestock (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada)

9:10 AM – 9:30 AM
Social participation and risk of dementia
Andrew Sommerlad (UCL – University College London, UK)

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM Open discussion

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | SESSION 6 | GENE AND OTHER RISK FACTORS
Moderator: Jean Christophe Corvol (Paris Brain Institute – Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France)

10:30 AM – 10:50 AM
Infections and neurodegenerative diseases
Alberto Ascherio (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health – Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA)

10:50 AM – 11:10 AM
Consequences of exposure to repetitive head trauma: chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Ann C. McKee (Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, USA)

11:10 AM – 11:30 AM
Improving causal inference in epidemiological studies of neurodegenerative diseases
Alexis Elbaz (Centre for research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Villejuif, France)

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM Open discussion

12:00 PM – 12:30 PM | KEY-NOTE 2

12:00 PM – 12:05 PM
Introduction
Roberto Buizza (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy)

12:05 PM – 12:25 PM
Effects of climate change on neurodegenerative diseases
Andrew Dhawan (Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, USA)

12:25 PM – 12:30 PM Discussion

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM | SESSION 7 | BRAIN PLASTICITY
Moderator: Lice Ghilardi (CUNY School of Medicine – The City College of New York, Harlem, USA)

1:30 PM – 1:50 PM
Mechanistic aspects of adaptive and maladaptive brain plasticity
Lennart Mucke (Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease – University of California San Francisco, USA)

1:50 PM – 2:10 PM
Brain reserve and risk of neurodegenerative diseases
Angelo Quartarone (IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo – Università di Messina, Italy)

2:10 PM – 2:30 PM
Enhancing brain plasticity with neuromodulation
Letizia Leocani (UniSR – Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy)
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Open discussion

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM | KEY-NOTE 3

3:00 PM – 3:05 PM
Introduction
Hans Peter Hartung (Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany)

3:05 PM – 3:25 PM
Omics for risk stratification
Sergio Baranzini (UCSF Weill Institute for Neuroscience – University of California San Francisco, USA)

3:25 PM – 3:30 PM
Discussion

4:00 PM – 5:45 PM | SESSION 8 | SECONDARY PREVENTION
Moderator: Massimo Corbo (Casa di Cura Igea, Milan, Italy)

4:00 PM – 4:20 PM
Detecting and treating prodromal Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease
Maria Pia Amato (Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Careggi and Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy)

4:20 PM – 4:40 PM
Using the research findings and preventing dementia
Gill Livingston (UCL – University College London, UK)

4:40 PM – 5:00 PM
Preventing Parkinson’s: When does Parkinson’s disease start?
Ronald B. Postuma (The Montreal Neurological Institute – McGill University, Montreal, Canada)

5:00 PM – 5:20 PM
Detecting and treating prodromal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Vincenzo Silani (IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano – Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy)

5:20 PM – 5:45 PM Open discussion

5:45 PM – 7:00 PM | ROUND TABLE | PRIORITIES AND FUTURE ACTIONS
Chairman: Giancarlo Comi

Participants:
Harris Eyre (Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Houston, USA)
Frédéric Déstrebecq (European Brain Council, Bruxelles, Belgium)
Katrin Seeher (World Health Organization, Geneve, Switzerland)
Monique Breteler (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany)
Alessandro Padovani (SIN – Società Italiana di Neurologia, Rome, Italy)
Pawel Swieboda (NeuroCentury, Bruxelles, Belgium)
Mario Battaglia (Italian Multiple Sclerosis Society, Genoa, Italy)

Under the auspices of