“I’m exactly as I was 10 years ago”, says Kina García, a Spanish woman from the Granada region, as she addresses by Zoom, from her home, the audience of the International Conference on Neurodegenerative Diseases, gathered on a Saturday morning at the Champalimaud Foundation’s auditorium, in Lisbon. The date is appropriate: it is September 21 – World Alzheimer's Day. 

This 2-day conference organised by the Champalimaud Foundation, in partnership with Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, will provide an overview of the scientific landscape in the area of physical activity and cancer, from prevention to rehabilitation and survivorship.

These are exciting times for research in this space as physical activity becomes more widely recognised as a powerful partner in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

Joining institutions such as the Max Planck Society, Germany (#1), the Allen Institute, USA (#6), and the Pasteur Institute, France (#13), the CF's ranking places it among the world’s top contributors to neuroscience, and as the only Portuguese institution to make the list. The ranking is based on its contribution to published research, which is measured by both the number of articles (“Count”) and the portion of authorship (“Share”).

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a widely used model in neuroscience due to its relatively small brain, which is easier to study than those of larger animals. Despite its size, the Drosophila brain is capable of forming memories, learning, and engaging in sophisticated social behaviours. Remarkably, fruit flies perform calculations as complex as vertebrates, but with a brain that has far fewer neurons. They share about 60% of their genes with humans, and 75% of human genetic diseases have parallels in flies.

On the 3rd of October, a full day pre-meeting summit was held on the KPro, the revolutionising keratoprosthesis developed by Claes Dohlman, laureate of the 2022 António Champalimaud Vision Award, receiving it shortly after his 100th birthday. The summit celebrated Dohlman’s legacy with recent advances partly funded by the award and innovative work from around the globe.