There is growing evidence that biomarkers will constitute a useful source for further investigations on CNS development, function, and damage. However, several crucial points before their inclusion in clinical guidelines need to be addressed. The solution resides in multidisciplinary cooperation among neonatologists, pediatricians, biochemists, neuroscientists, and last but not least manufacturers.

In the last decades, several novel molecules have been suggested to be reliable biomarkers to predict outcomes in adults, children, neonates, and fetuses. This holds for brain trauma and brain insults, which have been compared with functional/clinical scores or measures of neuropsychological impairment.

According to the main known pathophysiological steps leading to brain bleeding and/or damage, investigations aim at clarifying biomarkers role as predictors of damage and localization and extension of the lesion in adult and pediatric and perinatal periods are eagerly awaited. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Biomarkers in experimental animal model with particular regard to hypoxia reperfusion injury and preconditioning
• Biomarkers of brain damage in relation to standard monitoring techniques (i.e., MRI, EEG, etc.)
• Biomarkers of the localization and extent of the brain lesion (clinical and experimental)
• Biomarkers of CNS functions (clinical and experimental)
• Biomarkers of the effectiveness of therapeutic strategies (clinical and experimental)
• Biomarkers in stroke and tumors
• Biomarkers in neurodegenerative disease

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