The New Orleans Opera and Louisiana State University - namely Prof. Nicolas Bazan - (USA), organized a series of events to raise awareness on Alzheimer's disease and raise funds for research on neurodegeneration. Together with Nicotera, Placido Domingo and Nobel Prize winner Prof. Susumu Tonegawa were also awarded honorary citizenship and the key to the city of New Orleans.

After receiving the Nobel Prize for his work in immunology, Susumu Tonegawa`s (MIT, Cambridge USA) main research interest is to decipher brain mechanisms subserving learning and memory.

Placido Domingo is considered to be one of the world`s most versatile tenors. He is general director of the LA opera (USA), increasingly active as a conductor and is also known for his charitable actions.

Pierluigi Nicotera is the founding director of the DZNE. Its aim is to understand the causes and risk factors that lead to neurodegeneration, in order to develop new preventive, therapeutic and health care strategies. Before joining the DZNE, Nicotera was head of the Toxicology Unit at the “Medical Research Council” in Leicester (UK). His research interest is on investigating mechanisms leading to nerve cell damage.

Additionally, honorary citizenships were bestowed to Prof. Lennart Mucke (Gladstone Institute (USA) and member of the DZNE Senate) and Prof. Stuart Lipton (Burnham Institute, USA). The events brought together music and neuroscience as well as highlighted the beneficial role of music and high intellectual activities in delaying the effects of devastating conditions such as dementia. Prof. Bazan emphasized the benefit of coordinated world efforts in tackling Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Placido Domingo pledged his help in raising awareness of the disease.