«We would like to welcome you from the autonomous Province of Trento – highlighted the councilor for health and social policies at the opening of the conference Mario Tonina – to all participants and experts who will illustrate the most recent methodological advances in the study of brain structure and function, studies that allow us to acquire an in-depth understanding of its functioning and to explore its practical applications in the treatment of brain diseases. After all, research is the foundation on which to build the future of medicine, it allows us to develop new technologies, improve existing techniques and introduce more effective and less invasive treatments. In this context – continued the councilor – the Province has made a constant commitment to promoting a system of research and innovation of excellence, as demonstrated by the activation of the degree course in medicine and surgery which adds to the other training opportunities in the field of health professions, strengthening the Trentino system of research, innovation and higher education, the quality of which is recognized at a national level”.
For those dedicated to neuroscience, understanding the brain and treating brain tumors represents one of the most demanding challenges in the field of medicine and oncology.
«The interactions between the world of basic neuroscience and those applied to the clinic have experienced a notable development in recent years also thanks to technological and instrumental innovations which have made it possible to achieve results that were unimaginable until recently. Connect Brain it’s a real course – he explains Silvio Sarubbo, professor at the Interdepartmental Center of Medical Sciences of the University of Trento and director of the Neurosurgery Unit of the Santa Chiara hospital in Trento – founded in 2015 with the idea of creating a bridge between basic neurosciences and clinical research, neurological and neurosurgical. A synergy that has practical implications for the treatment of patients suffering from brain tumors.”
An initiative with a strong interdisciplinary imprint.
«Our contribution – he says Jorge Jovicich scientific coordinator of the neuroimaging laboratory at the Interdepartmental Mind/Brain Center of the University of Trento – is to provide the neurosurgery operational unit with a data acquisition protocol for the dissemination of functional imaging and tools to analyze this data jointly, both to plan a surgical operation and to analyze the post-surgery progress and monitor the patient’s cognitive recovery”.
Artificial intelligence plays an important role in the development of clinical neuroscience.
«A strange short circuit is being created. On the one hand – he underlines Paolo Avesani, head of the Neuroinformatics laboratory of the Bruno Kessler Foundation – neuroscience tries to explain how the brain works. On the other hand, artificial intelligence tries to replicate it. There is a mutual benefit between these two disciplines which is also having positive results for clinical activity.”
After the success of the two previous editions of Connect Brain (the first was in 2015, the second in 2019) in this third “volume” of the course neuroscientists from different fields (advanced neuroradiological imaging, neurophysiology, neurobiology, neuroinformatics, neurologists, neurophysiologists, neurosurgeons, oncologists and radiation oncologists) divided into eight sessions theoretical theories will be compared with new evidence regarding the functioning of the human brain, its plasticity and compensation mechanisms, the most advanced techniques for studying it and for intervening with surgical and medical therapies in an effective way on brain tumors.
In fact, brain tumors represent one of the most challenging sectors of oncology given the lack of knowledge still today of this disease, of its possible evolution and the development of new conceptual and therapeutic approaches that have occurred over the last few years, above all thanks to the evidence produced by neurobiology and genetics which has allowed us to better understand some essential aspects.
Thursday and Friday will be dedicated to study, debate and conferences by speakers. On Saturday the program includes a practical exercise session with some new tools developed as part of the collaboration between FBK, University of Trento and Apss. Participants will be able to try their hand at the most modern applications of technology for the treatment of brain tumors and movement disorders in general. They will be able to use these tools, learn how to use functional magnetic resonance imaging at rest and consult maps that concern both the structure of the brain and its functions.
The tools developed in Trentino
In Trento, thanks to the collaboration of the three main stakeholders of neuroscientific research in the area – University of Trento, Fondazione Bruno Kessler and provincial health services company – the first functional brain atlas was created, obtained by integrating resting functional magnetic resonance imaging data of subjects healthy patients with electrical stimulation data collected during neurosurgical operations to remove brain tumors. A complex IT integration of these two precious pieces of information, based on artificial intelligence methods, has allowed the exact definition of the distribution of the brain areas essential for 12 different functions. And it helped to clarify the brain connection pathways thanks to a further and advanced magnetic resonance imaging method, tractography, which allows brain fibers to be visualized.
The Atlas is the result of the “NeuSurPlan” clinical research project, started in 2021 and financed by the Autonomous Province of Trento. The objective is to support technology transfer. Help clarify functional brain anatomy. And transform the scientific discoveries made in the laboratory into therapeutic and surgical applications.
This is not the only achievement that the interaction between clinics, neurosurgery and basic research has guaranteed. The integration between the experience and skills of each institution involved has allowed the creation of the first automatic system to explore brain functions at the cortical level. A software that allows you to obtain, through a short 11-minute MRI sequence, a map of different brain functions that can be used both as a tool for surgical planning, and therefore reduce the risk of damage to functional brain tissue, and to understand the mechanisms of neuronal reorganization and plasticity during the course of patients’ disease.
Finally, the combination of clinical work with laboratory work has allowed the Trentino researchers to create the first digitalized atlas of the cerebral white matter obtained by integrating the anatomical micro-dissection of the brain fibers with magnetic resonance tractography studies. A tool made available online (bradipho.eu ) and which constitutes a unique resource for teaching and learning the anatomy of the main connection pathways of the human brain.
Saturday 15 June, at 11.30am, it will be possible to film and interview the conference participants who will be busy testing and experimenting with cutting-edge instruments and innovative software. The appointment is in FBK headquarters in via Santa Croce, 77 in Trento.
(ps, rc)
Images
Videos, interviews and photos of the conference organizers click here
Video report and interviews from the opening day of the conference click here
Interview with health councilor Mario Tonina
Interview Antonio Ferro
