Credit: Courtesy of the European Brain Research Institute

This remarkable neuroscientist started her research career in a laboratory set up in her bedroom in Turin, Italy during World War II. Rita Levi-Montalcini pioneered research into nerve growth factor (NGF). Her research has been fundamental to the understanding of trophic factors in the control of embryonic tissue development. Her seminal findings concerning the role of NGF have opened new areas of research in neuronal plasticity and repair, with implications for neurodegenerative diseases. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1986, which she shared with her colleague Stanley Cohen. She is a founding member of the European Dana Alliance for the Brain.

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Also see:

Interview with Levi-Montalcini at 100

European Brain Research Institute Celebrates 100^th Birthday of Rita Levi-Montalcini.

Dana Press to Publish English Edition of Rita Levi-Montalcini Biography.

Birthday Greetings Sent from Members of the Dana Alliances.

AUDIO AVAILABLE FOR THE STAYING SHARP WISDOM, AGEING, AND COGNITIVE MEETING

The European Dana Alliance and the University of the Third Age co-sponsored "Wisdom, Ageing and Cognitive Fitness", a Staying Sharp panel discussion at The Royal Society on 12 March, 2009. The event was part of the international Brain Awareness Week celebration.

The panel discussion centered on three main questions:

• What can we do to increase our chances of having healthy, busy brains into old age?
• How can older people continue to make important contributions to society?
• What is the evidence for the "use it or lose it" hypothesis?

Colin Blakemore, University of Oxford, Felicia Huppert, director of Cambridge interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ageing, and Tom Kirkwoood, University of New Castle,were the discussants. Vivienne Parry, writer and broadcaster was the moderator.

You can listen to the audio from the event.

Bristol Celebrates Brain Awareness Week in a Unique Way

A giant inflatable brain showed 300 Bristol children how the brain works during Brain Awareness Week(BAW). To demonstrate how messages travel along brain cells, the children formed lines and passed a small rubber brain to each other.

This was one of a number of BAW activities in Bristol that involved more than 60 neuroscientists. The event was hosted by Bristol Neuroscience in partnership with The Physiological Society. Dr Anne Cooke said, "This event represents an analogy of the key process that underpins everything performed by the nervous system; seeing, feeling, moving, remembering; simply being who we are."

Interview with Eminent Neuroscientists, including EDAB Members, Available on SfN Website.

As part of its online "History of Neuroscience" features, the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in the United States has posted videos of interviews with eminent senior neuroscientists around the world. European Dana Alliance members Arvid Carlsson and Rita Levi-Montalcini are among those interviewed for the series. The videos are part of SfN's "The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography" series.

The European Dana Alliance for the Brain offers a wide range of free publications on topics about the brain as well as health awareness and patient information resources.

The publications produced are available in several languages including English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Recently, Hungarian, Czech, and Polish have been added to the EDAB publication list. All are available to download in PDF form.

Our Staying Sharp Series provides information for patients, carers, health professionals and families. Topics covered in this series touch on Chronic Health Issues, Depression, Learning Throughout Life, Memory Loss and Aging and Quality of Life.

For interests in Brain Research our Annual Report on Brain Research describes and interprets important advances in neuroscience of the previous year.

We also have resources for teachers and secondary school students with Mindboggling and More Mindbogglers which is packed with information for the brain in fun format of games, riddles and puzzles.

For those who wish to have those common questions about brain research answered there is our pamphlet Q&A: Answering your Questions About Brain Research. This will provide answers to commonly asked questions about the brain and its disorders e.g. how brain-imaging techniques have affected neuroscience research.