Javier de Felipe facts for kids

Javier de Felipe Oroquieta, born in Madrid, Spain, in 1953, is a famous scientist. He is a research biologist who specializes in studying the human brain. He focuses on the brain's anatomy, which means he looks at how it is built and what its different parts do.

About Javier de Felipe

Early Life and Education

Javier de Felipe studied Biology and earned his first degree in 1975. He then got his Ph.D. (a very high degree in science) in 1979 from the Complutense University of Madrid. After that, he continued his training from 1980 to 1983 at the Cajal Institute. Here, he started his important research on the cerebral cortex, which is the outer layer of the brain.

He continued his studies in the United States. From 1983 to 1985, he worked at the Washington University School of Medicine and the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He also returned to the University of California, Irvine, as a Visiting scientist between 1989 and 1991.

Research and Discoveries

Since 1991, Javier de Felipe has been a research professor at the Cajal Institute in Spain. He also leads the Cajal Laboratory of Cortical Circuits at the Center for Biomedical Technology (CTB) of the Technical University of Madrid.

When he returned to the Cajal Institute in 1991, he started a team to study changes in the brain's cerebral cortex in people with epilepsy. Epilepsy is a condition that causes seizures.

In 1997, he worked on NASA's Neurolab project. This project studied how space travel affects the brain's nerve connections, called neural circuits. Later, starting in 2006, he began researching how Alzheimer's disease changes the tiny structures and organization of the cerebral cortex. Alzheimer's is a disease that affects memory and thinking.

The Blue Brain and Human Brain Projects

Javier de Felipe has been a key part of the Blue Brain Project since it started in 2005. This project, led by Professor Henry Markram, aims to create a very detailed computer model of the brain. The Blue Brain Project grew into a big international effort. Spain joined in with the Cajal Blue Brain project, which De Felipe leads.

The success of the Blue Brain Project helped create an even bigger project called the Human Brain Project. This global project, started by the European Commission in October 2013, involves scientists and institutions from all over the world. Javier de Felipe is a co-director of the Molecular and Cellular neuroscience division within this huge project. He works alongside Professor Seth Grant.

Awards and Recognitions

Javier de Felipe has received many awards for his important work. In 1999, he received the Krieg Cortical Kudos Award from the Cajal Club in the United States for his research on the cerebral cortex. In 2005, he received the Chair Santiago Ramón y Cajal award from the Academy of Sciences of Mexico. In 2013, he was made an Honorary Member of the American Association for Anatomy for his studies in anatomical sciences.

Books and Publications

Javier de Felipe has also written several books that combine science and art.

• 2009 Cajal's Butterflies of the Soul: Science and Art. ISBN: 978-0195392708.
• 2014 The Garden of Neurology: about beauty, art and the brain. ISBN: 9788434021563.
• 2017 Cajal's Neuronal Forest: Science and Art. ISBN: 978-0190842833.
• 2022 From Laetoli to the Moon. The unusual journey of the human brain. ISBN: 978-84-9199-426-8.

See also

In Spanish: Javier de Felipe para niños

• Blue Brain Project
• Henry Markram
• Seth Grant

External links

• Javier de Felipe
• Cajal Blue Brain Project