This lecture, which forms part of the European School of Thinking Lluís Vives, opens the neuroscience course and it will bring together national and international outstanding representatives in the Universitat de València. They are recognized for their records with awards as Premio Príncipe de Asturias.

DeFelipe will talk about neuroscience to understand the biological mechanisms responsible of the human mental activity. The activity of the brain's cortex is related to the capacities that distinguish the human being from other mammals. As a result of the remarkable brain’s development and evolution, we are able to realize extremely intricate and human tasks.

However, we are still far from knowing how the brain generates our mind and it is scarce the detailed knowledge about the functional and structural organisation of the neural human network. Particularly, of the map connections, advances in the brain’s understanding and the acceleration on the data creation and prosecution are becoming increasingly spectacular.

Javier deFelipe has participated in 1997 in the Neurolab project of the Nasa as principal researcher of the scientific Spanish team. In 2006 started to focus on the study of the Alzheimer's disease and the microstructure of the normal cerebral cortex. These are studies that are continuing ongoing. Currently, Caja Blue Brain leads the project, whose objectives fall into two main axis: the anatomical and functional microorganization of the cortical column, and the development of biomedical technology (Basically informatics).

National and international personalities in neurosciences

The course “Our brain’s secrets” will include three lectures: the first of which is the professor DeFelipe, and three seminars to be held between April and June. This initiative is organised by the Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Equality of the Universitat de València, through the full university professors of the Universitat de València: Isabel Fariñas and Federico Pallardó, and the European School of Thinking Lluís Vives.

Álvaro Pascual-Leone, Spanish professor of neurology and associate dean of the Clinical and Translational Science in the Harvard Medical School, will visit the University on 4 June to impart the lecture “Promoting health brain”.

The lecture “Spare nerve cells: mechanism and limitations” will take place on 14 June. This lecture will be realised by the Mexican neurobiologist and professor of Anatomy and Neurosurgery at the California-San Francisco University. He has been specialised in the neurogenesis of the brain. Furthermore, he has been awarded with the Principe de Asturias Prize winner for Scientific and Technical Research in 2011, because of his studies in the nerve cells of the adults brains development, with Giacomo Rizzolatti and Joseph Altman.

The first of his seminars, “History of sterm and daughter cells and how organise our brain”, will be held on 21 May by Cristina Gil (Biotechnology and Biomedicine of the Universitat de València). “Emotional dimension of pain: impact about opioid addiction”, by Lucía Hipólito (Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology and Parasitology UV), will be the topic of the second seminar, on 24 May. The last seminar will take place on 13 June and it will be offered by Sacramento Rodríguez. In this session, the professor will focus on “maternal and paternal genes prints reflected in our neurons”. The timetable all the seminars is from 16:00 to 18:00.

The European School of Thinking Lluís Vives is a cultural project, boosted by the Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Equality of the UV, with the management of the General Foundation of the Universitat de València, which is configured as a space for reflection and open, participatory and critical debate about current issues. The School also counts on the participation of other individuals of the Public administration and civil society: The President of the Valencian government, the City Hall of Valencia, the Valencian Department of Education, Research, Culture and Sport, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, the Alfons el Magnànim Institute, the Humanities European School and the Caixa Popular.