- “In five years we will have much more effective and interesting treatments and in 10 years we will have 100% effective treatments to prevent and cure it,” says Dr. Francisco Lopera, a renowned Colombian neurologist, who will be one of the main protagonists of ‘BioMed & Tech Talks’, which will be held in Granada from April 8 to 11, coinciding with World Health Day and World Health Week.
- “The hope for the coming years is preventive therapies at very early ages. That is to say, before the onset of the symptoms of the disease,” Dr. Lopera said before his presentation.
- The new BioMedicine event in Granada will bring together leading professors from the universities of Boston (USA), Oxford (UK), the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden) and Antioquia (Colombia), as well as the Universities of Granada and Seville, among others.
Alzheimer’s disease and Dr. Francisco Lopera, renowned Colombian neurologist, will be the main protagonists of the first edition of ‘BioMed &Tech Talks’: Your appointment with research and innovation, to be held from April 8 to 11 in Granada, coinciding with World Health Day and World Health Week.
In its first edition, the event brought together experts from Boston (United States), Oxford (United Kingdom), the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden) and Antioquia (Colombia), Granada and Seville, as well as health communicators from the United States, Latin America and Europe, in addition to Spain.
BioMed & Tech Talks’ is supported by the Progreso y Salud Foundation (FPS) of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Andalusian Regional Government, and representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission, Farmaindustria, the Andalusian Health Service (SAS), the Spanish Association of Biocompanies (ASEBIO) and associations of health communicators, such as ANIS, AEC2 and Comunica Biotec, have also confirmed their participation.
Dr. Francisco Lopera, in search of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease
Awarded in 2020 with the Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Alzheimer’s Association, he is recognized worldwide for his research and advances in the understanding of a disease for which he advances that “in five years we will have much more effective and interesting treatments and in 10 years we will have 100% effective treatments to prevent and cure it”.
With an interest in the mysteries of the human brain from a very early age, Francisco Lopera studied medicine, specializing in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, to which he has devoted much of his career as a researcher.
A breakthrough in the world of medicine and, in particular, on a disease that, according to the latest 2019 report from Alzheimer‘s Disease International (ADI), affects 50 million people worldwide, a figure that will rise to 152 million by 2050.
“It will be easier to prevent it than to cure it, because when there are symptoms, the brain is already very deteriorated and it is more difficult to reverse the damage. On the other hand, preventing Alzheimer’s will be easier because the brain is not so destroyed,” says Dr. Lopera, who maintains that “the hope for the coming years is preventive therapies at very early ages, that is, before the onset of symptoms of the disease”.
“We have identified two human beings who were born with a very particular condition. They were born with the causality gene that dooms them to develop the disease, but at the same time they inherited a gene that delays for 20 to 30 years the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms.”
In practice, transferring these cases to sporadic Alzheimer’s, the most common worldwide, which usually begins at 65 years of age, “if the onset of symptoms can be delayed by 30 years, it means that this person will start with symptoms at 95 years of age. Since it is very difficult to live to that age, this delay means that the disease will be cured”.
Innovative format for a high-level event
The Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio, which serves more than 500 people, will host the first edition of ‘BioMed&Tech Talks’: Your appointment with research and innovation, a new independent, transversal, international and multidisciplinary event that from April 8 to 11, 2024, coinciding with the World Health Day and Week, will give visibility to innovative projects in BioMedicine and BioTechnology.
The agenda will include two face-to-face sessions (Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 April) and two virtual sessions (10 and 11). This format makes it easier for speakers who cannot travel to Granada to share their progress and messages with the entire community, which raises the academic level of this event to the highest level.
All BM&TTalks presentations can be followed through ‘The Observatory‘, the digital platform of Medina Media Events, where all interventions will be available 24/365 for on-demand consumption, like Netflix, but free of charge.
The first edition of ‘BioMed & Tech Talks‘ is organized by Medina Media Events in collaboration with the Fundación Progreso y Salud of the Consejería de Salud y Consumo de la Junta de Andalucía and is supported by GSK, Nokia, El Observatorio and the Hospital Clínico Universitario San Cecilio. Also collaborating are Andalucía TRADE, ASEBIO, Wellness Forum, Granada Convention Bureau, among others.
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