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t h
E u r o S c i C o n C o n f e r e n c e o n
Neurology & Neurological
Disorders
Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience
ISSN: 2171-6625
J u l y 1 2 - 1 3 , 2 0 1 8
P a r i s , F r a n c e
Neurology 2018
Page 18
G
iven the tremendous complexity of brain organization, here I propose a
strategy that dynamically links stages of brain organization from genes
to consciousness, at four privileged structural levels: genes; transcription
factors (TFs)–gene networks; synaptic epigenesis; and long-range connectivity.
These structures are viewed as nested and reciprocally inter-regulated, with a
hierarchical organization that proceeds on different timescales during the course
of evolution and development. Interlevel bridging mechanisms include intrinsic
variation-selection mechanisms, which offer a community of bottom-up and top-
downmodels linking genes to consciousness in a stepwise manner. The proposed
approach is to nest the various intertwined structural and functional levels that
compose the brain into a coherent and open brain models community covering
multiple timescales. A critical bridging role between the gene and neuronal levels
is assigned to regulatory proteins termed TFs. TFs regulate disparate genes into
coherent assemblies. The impact of the environment on brain synaptogenesis is
modelled as activity-dependent selective stabilization pruning of synapses. Long-
range connectivity, subject to developmental shaping through interactions with the
physical, social, and cultural environment, is proposed to form the bridge between
neuronal micro circuitry and higher cognitive functions by globally integrating
the underlying neural organizations. A novel allosteric pharmacology of TFs is
proposed for neuropsychiatric diseases
Biography
Prof. Jean-Pierre Changeux is a renowned neuroscientist. He
received his PhD in 1964 and continued to postdoctoral fellow-
ships at the University of California-Berkeley and at the Colum-
bia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.
Changeux returned to the Institut Pasteur in 1967, where he
remains since. He also served as professor at the College de
France from 1975 through 2006. His numerous awards include
the Wolf Prize in Medicine in 1982; the Carl-Gustav-Bernhard
medal of the Swedish Academy of Science in 1991; the CNRS
Gold medal in 1992; the Balzan Prize for Cognitive Neurosci-
ences in 2001; the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Sci-
ence in 2005; the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) Award
in the Neurosciences in 2007; the Japanese Society for the Pro-
motion of Science (JSPS) award for eminent scientists in 2012;
and many others. He is also a member of many international
scientific academies and holds honorary degrees from leading
institutions worldwide.The research of Jean-Pierre Changeux
has centred on the fundamental molecular and cellular mech-
anisms involved in the recognition of chemical signals and their
transduction into biological activity.
changeux@noos.frA system biology approach for modeling
the brain: from genes to consciousness
Jean-Pierre Changeux
France cerebellum club, CNRS UMR 3571, Institut Pasteur, France
Jean-Pierre Changeux, J Neurol Neurosci 2018, Volume: 9
DOI: 10.21767/2171-6625-C1-007