Written by Geoff Archer, Trainee at the Scientific Foresight Unit.
| Webstreaming: http://eptwitter.eu/brainlecture2014 Twitter Hashtag: #BrainLecture2014 Conference material |
How does the human nervous system communicate? How does the brain work? For this year’s Annual Lecture, STOA is delighted to welcome Professor Thomas Christian Südhof, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2013 as a keynote speaker.
The event, entitled ‘Towards understanding the brain: Explained by a Nobel Prize Winner’, will take place on November 18, and will be opened by Mairead McGuiness, MEP and Vice-President responsible for STOA.
Thomas Südhof: A life of research
Having grown up in Germany, but then moving to the USA in 1983, Thomas Südhof begin working in the laboratory of two joint-winners of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Medicine for research into the regulation of cholesterol metabolism, Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein. Scientific curiosity encouraged Professor Südhof to switch his focus to neuroscience however, as he explained in a recent interview:
“When I started, nothing was known about synapses, except that they communicated via the release of a chemical transmitter that then was recognized by postsynaptic receptors…it seemed to me that understanding how this works would have tremendous effects on our understanding on how the brain works”.His work in the field of neuroscience has opened up the discipline and contributed greatly to our knowledge of the human brain, in particular the mechanism of neurotransmission. But where does a Nobel Prize Winner go from here? From his previous comments on the importance of new knowledge, we have a glimpse of Professor Südhof’s scientific philosophy:
“The culture I grew up in put an enormous value on the intrinsic importance of knowledge and truth, and I feel that has become devalued over the last decades. I think that I would be interested in an advocacy role…although there’s much we don’t know, we also must discuss, understand, promote, and ask new questions.”What can we expect to learn from the event?
• Attendees will have a chance to understand how Professor Südhof’s research may contribute to the advancement of treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism and related disorders.
• It is widely thought that the European Research Area, created to facilitate free movement of European researchers within Europe, needs improvement. Professor Südhof’s experience of working in the USA could provide thought-provoking lessons for Europe as to it could do this.
• The world of medical research has undergone deep changes in the last 30 years, in particular the intensifying of competition for funding. Professor Südhof will have an insight into how the present situation compares with when he began his career in the 1980s.
• Communication between scientists and policy-makers is often fraught with difficulty and this event will provide an opportunity to debate how to encourage better collaboration between the two often disparate communities.
How to get involved
For more information please contact gianluca.quaglio@ep.europa.eu and click here to register.
The discussion will be fully available online via a live webstream and you can join the conversation on Twitter by using #brainlecture2014 to put a question to Professor Südhof yourself.
