The concept “Music for the Brain”, a cultural initiative dedicated to science, was launched in Bordeaux in 2015 with the generous support of the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez.
Music for the brain aims to organize benefit concerts, the proceeds of which are used to support research on “healthy brain aging”. The first three concerts were held at the Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez in Bordeaux, France, with the participation of international collaborators, from the United States and Japan. We wish to expand the international reach of our events to reflect the multinational collaborative nature of our research and to promote cultural exchanges.
The Aim: to support research on “healthy brain” aging
Our ambition is to support research projects aimed at promoting “healthy brain aging” by preventing or delaying the onset of stroke and dementia, and at deciphering the biological mechanisms of these conditions to better treat them. We are particularly interested in discovering genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors that have a role in accelerating or, on the contrary, slowing down vascular brain aging, which could substantially accelerate the discovery of novel drug targets for stroke. Increasing life expectancy, and concurrent reduction in frequency and severity of cardiovascular diseases in recent decades, have led to an increase in frequency of neurological disorders common in older ages, especially stroke and dementia, two tightly related conditions.
An international alliance
This initiative is carried out by a population health research team in the field of neurology, at the University of Bordeaux. The first Music for the Brain concert was organized with the participation of the Franco-American Fulbright Commission, as a result of close collaborations with American research teams. The second concert took place in the presence of a Japanese delegation from Kyoto University, with which the University of Bordeaux develops collaborative projects to advance research on and promote “healthy brain aging”. The third concert to be held in Tokyo on April 10, 2018 was part of this continuity. Given the art/science combination of the Music for the Brain project, we wish to facilitate international scientific but also cultural exchanges within this framework.
Examples of funded initiatives
Funds raised by the Music for the Brain initiative have already enabled to launch a novel international, highly specialized summer school to provide training for young researchers in the study of genomic determinants of stroke, dementia, and brain aging measured on brain imaging. This summer school ” Neurepiomics ” was held successfully six times at the University of Bordeaux, France and then at the Boston University, USA and at the University of Kyoto, Japan.
