Brain development and plasticity

The brain is our window on the world: it is through our brain that we perceive environmental stimuli, process them, and make choices and adopt behaviours that allow us to adapt to the continuously changing world around us. But where does this adaptability come from? The genetic information roughly determines the structure and function of the brain, while the experiences we make shape its connections and potential through learning. In this meeting, we will try to explain some fundamental principles that govern the interaction between genes and the environment, which make the brain of each individual unique.

Welcome address:

• Paolo Carta, Director of Collegio Clesio

Guest speaker:

• Yuri Bozzi (CIMeC UniTrento)

Yuri Bozzi graduated in Biology at the University of Pisa in 1991, and earned a PhD in Neurobiology at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in 1996. After four years in France, he returned to Italy as a researcher at the CNR Institute of Neurosciences in Pisa. He moved to the University of Trento in 2009 and has been full professor of Physiology at the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) since 2017. His research is devoted to the neurobiological basis of autism. He is the author of more than 80 articles in international journals (including the prestigious Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, PNAS, Journal of Neuroscience) and more than 100 presentations at national and international conferences. In the past 15 years he has participated in many scientific dissemination events in Italy.