“Human Brains” is the result of an in-depth research process undertaken by Fondazione Prada and driven by a deep interest in understanding the human brain, the complexity of its functions and its centrality in human history. Developed by a scientific committee chaired by neurologist Giancarlo Comi, since 2020 the program resulted in a series of exhibitions, scientific conferences, public talks, and online and editorial activities.
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. The impressive recent development of genetic and biological markers for all these diseases also allows to identify individuals who are at risk for a specific disease, and the activation of secondary prevention strategies that could include the implementation of specific therapies as early as in the preclinical stage of the disease.
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 and the political sphere. 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 the younger population as their stage of life is exactly when one starts building the future of their brain health.
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”, underlines, “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.”
The fifteen international institutions involved in the “Preserving the Brain: A Call to Action” project are: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) within the Helmholtz Association, Bonn, Germany; 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; 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 will be 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.
Conference “Prevention on Neurodegenerative Diseases” | October 16 – 17 2024
The program of the conference “Prevention on Neurodegenerative Diseases” has been conceived under the scientific direction of Giancarlo Comi 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. Access is by reservation on the website humanbrains.fondazioneprada.org. The conference is also streamed and visible to all on the same online platform.
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.
Exhibition and meetings | October 16, 2024 – April 7, 2025
The exhibition takes place from October 16, 2024 to April 7, 2025 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 hosts mediation activities for visitors, videos dedicated to the project, and a series of documents selected by the patient organizations and associations and freely available to the public.
The exhibition first explores the field of primary prevention, targeting healthy individuals, by analyzing the environmental factors that influence the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. It also addresses individual behaviors that represent additional risk factors and those that conversely constitute protective factors. The exhibition concludes with an extensive section on secondary prevention, which is the early identification of individuals at higher risk. This prevention makes individuals more susceptible to therapy initiated at a preclinical stage and consequently provides a greater chance of success.
A series of eight meetings, developed with the patient organizations and associations involved in the project, accompanies 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 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.
Human Brains
“Human Brains,” Fondazione Prada’s project dedicated since 2018 to neurosciences, employs a multidisciplinary approach that brings together neurobiology, philosophy, psychology, neurochemistry, linguistics, and artificial intelligence. The project’s plural title was chosen to emphasize the brain’s intrinsic complexity and each individual’s irreducible uniqueness.
The first chapter of the project was the online conference “Culture and Consciousness.” Held in November 2020, it focused on the study of consciousness, the brain’s highest and most complex function. The second stage, titled “Conversations,” was based on a series of online talks given by international scientists, philosophers, and researchers between September 2021 and April 2022. The third phase, the exhibition “It Begins with an Idea,” on the history of brain studies, characterized by rigor, innovation, and discoveries, but also by mistakes and uncertainties, took place in the Venice premises of Fondazione Prada from April to November 2022. The fourth part, “Preserving the Brain,” developed in Milan from September to October 2022 and in Shanghai from March to May 2023. “Preserving the
Brain” saw the participation of researchers, patient organizations and associations, representatives of healthcare institutions and pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to discuss the state of knowledge of neurodegenerative diseases and the tools currently used to combat them and identify possible therapies.
at Fondazione Prada, Milano
until April 7, 2025