The seventh Ri.MED Foundation Annual Symposium was held in Rome, on October 30th 2013 at “Roma Tre” University Congress Program. The Ri.MED Foundation was established in 2006 with an international partnership between the Italian Government, the Presidency of the Region of Sicily, the Italian National Research Council (CNR), the University of Pittsburgh (UP) and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), with the goal of promoting and supporting biotech and biomedical research. One of the most challenging objectives of the Foundation is the realization of the Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Center, which will be built in Carini (Palermo) by 2018 and has the goal to become an international center of reference for research in biotechnology.

This year topic was “Advances in Neurosciences” and the Symposium was dedicated to the memory of Rita Levi Montalcini, one of the pioneers in the field of the neuroscience, who laid the foundation for decades of advancements in neurobiology.

More than 200 participants attended the meeting where the 9 invited speakers – selected among the most important Italian and worldwide neuroscientists – and 3 young scientists – directly supported from the Ri.MED Foundation – presented some of the most exciting, important, and innovative advancements in their fields.

The scientific program covered different aspects of neurosciences, ranging from cognitive neurosciences and control of voluntary movement to neuropathology and neurodegenerative disorders.
Innovative data were presented highlighting the importance of neuroscience studies in translational medicine, such as the development of brain-machine interfaces leading to use of motorized mechanical arms directly controlled by thought in humans or the successful application of gene therapy techniques for the treatment of Metachromatic Leukodystrophy in young patients. Moreover, impressive progresses in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in neurological diseases have been widely discussed.

Relevant advances have also been described in the brain neuroimaging field. Improved neuroimaging techniques have in fact been applied to the understanding of cognitive mechanisms underlying the emergence of mental disorders during adolescence and have been successfully used as a diagnostic marker at early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, when symptoms are still not present.

The last session of the meeting was reserved to the Ri.MED Foundation scientist’s talks. They presented new promising data about molecular and cellular mechanisms regarding Parkinson disease and temporal lobe epilepsy.

In conclusion, during this Ri.MED Foundation Symposium the great and substantial scientific progress in the field of the neuroscience emerged, with particular attention to the potential of this discipline for clinical translation.