John Hardy, head of the Neurogenetics laboratory of the National Aging high school in Bethesda, spoke at the symposium "Frontiers in Neuroscience", which was held as part of the conference on Biomedicine that takes place at the University of Navarra on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the School of Medicine. In his lecture, he explained that there are similar mechanisms of neuronal death in different neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. "These similarities are an advantage, because what we learn from one can be applied to the others," he said.

deadline He also announced that the clinical programs of study testing the therapeutic usefulness of two groups of medications, statins and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, will be completed within two years. These substances are focused on the prevention of neuronal death, although the expert indicated that "they will mainly benefit patients with mild dementia".

On the other hand, John Hardy made reference letter to the transgenic animals used for research in Neurosciences and emphasized that, compared to clinical trials, they allow programs of study to be carried out more quickly and cheaply. "We produce animal models that mimic human disease better and better, so that we can see the activity of various therapies. The gap between animal models and human pathology can be bridged by improving the former."

Transgenic animal therapies

In that sense, he pointed out that some therapies work well in transgenic animals, but when transferred to human patients, side effects occur. "That does not mean that the therapy does not work, but that it still needs to be worked on."

For his part, Dr. José Masdeu, director of area Neurosciences of research center Applied Medicine of the University of Navarra, said that "when Alzheimer's disease begins to manifest itself, up to 40% of the neurons in some areas of the brain have already been lost".

Finally, John Hardy praised the boom in biomedical research in Spain in the last ten years. "In my laboratory, in the USA, there are more Spanish postdocs than from any other country. The CIMA is one of the samples of that development and constitutes an opportunity for these scientists to return."

In addition to the four conference on Biomedicine, which correspond to the areas of research of the CIMA of the University of Navarra, among the events of the fiftieth anniversary of the School of Medicine are the VI Eduardo Ortiz de Landázuri Memorial Lecture and the presentation of a book and a DVD.