On the occasion of World Brain Week, coordinated in Europe by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, which returns from 11 to 17 March, some of the scientists responsible for the MNESYS project, the largest brain research program ever carried out in Italy, explain the challenges and prospects for the future.
For seven consecutive days, seven scientists who are part of the Italian network of 500 researchers, committed to exploring the brain to cure the most widespread pathologies, will talk about their objectives and hopes in as many video interviews on ANSA.it, from the creation of digital avatars of the human brain to study the response to drugs and diseases, to the development of new biomarkers for early diagnosis, up to the identification of new cellular and molecular targets for innovative pharmacological approaches.
Interview with Professor Antonio Uccelli, Scientific Director of the Mnesys project
The brain has 150 billion neurons capable of making further billions of connections through the synapses (100 trillion), the brain's superhighways which, when lined up, cover 160,000 kilometres, equal to a third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon, and reside in two cerebral hemispheres, with a volume of a few cubic centimeters and an average weight of less than one and a half kilos.
All this to allow us to be unique among species, to have motor and sensory functions, experience emotions, process memories and thoughts, learn language, look and listen.
However, there is still much to discover and scientific research is still trying to unravel the mysteries of the mind and investigate its mechanisms to understand how it works, but also why it doesn't work well, how it changes throughout life and with age. age, leading to diseases of the nervous system and not just neurodegenerative ones.
Interview with Patrizia Fattori, professor of Physiology at the University of Bologna
From Alzheimer's, with which one million people live in Italy, to the over 6 million who suffer from migraines, from the 400,000 people affected by Parkinson's, to the 12 million Italians who suffer of sleep disorders, while multiple sclerosis affects around 90,000 people.
Very high numbers also for stroke cases with 200,000 new diagnoses every year and around 1 million people living with the disabling effects of the disease, also increasing for autism, with 100 cases per 10,000 inhabitants.
Overall, the Ministry of Health estimates that nervous system diseases in our country have an incidence of new cases every year equal to 7.5% of the Italian population and a prevalence of 30%.
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