This World Alzheimer’s Day (21 September), we are delighted to announce two new Emerging Leaders at the UK DRI: Dr Wioleta Zelek (UK DRI at Cardiff) and Dr Aitana Sogorb-Esteve (UK DRI at UCL). Both have been awarded prestigious Race Against Dementia (RAD) Fellowships and join the 11 Emerging Leaders announced earlier in the year.
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Advances in technology help drive scientific discoveries. To enable researchers to investigate neurodegeneration and dementia in new ways, the UK DRI has established the ‘Proteomics’ and ‘Single Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics’ technology platforms. These provide researchers with access to specialist equipment for studying protein and gene expression patterns at an unprecedented level of detail.
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In a new study published today (14 Sept) in Cell Reports, researchers have shown that the protein BCL11A plays a neuroprotective role in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. The team, led by Prof Sandra Blaess from the Institute for Reconstructive Neurology at the University Hospital Bonn, and involving Dr Emmanouil Metzakopian from the UK DRI at Cambridge, believe the finding could open up avenues for new Parkinson’s treatments.
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Prof Sir David Klenerman, UK DRI Group Leader at Cambridge, and Prof Sir Shankar Balasubramanian have been awarded the 2022 Breakthrough Prize for their development of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). The groundbreaking technology significantly reduced the time and cost associated with sequencing a human genome, revolutionising modern research and medicine.
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The Medical Research Council (MRC) has awarded £1.5 million to fund research into gene expression associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Led by Prof Jonathan Mill (University of Exeter), in collaboration with UK DRI Emerging Leader, Dr Sarah Marzi (UK DRI at Imperial), and researchers from the Universities of Essex and Bristol, the team will investigate changes between different brain cell types, to better understand disease mechanism and uncover new treatment opportunities.
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The UK DRI welcomes the new Parliamentary report, “Fuelling the Moonshot”, which calls on the Government to confirm funding for the UK DRI for the next ten years. The report makes a case for how the Government’s promised ‘Dementia Moonshot’ funding should be spent to best support research into dementia and neurodegeneration.
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The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns had a huge impact around the world, forcing many people into isolation. For those living with dementia and their carers, this was especially difficult as many had relied on in-person community groups to meet up with others. To help those with dementia stay connected at this time, the Community Makers project was established to support groups transitioning online with resources such as technical advice and monthly forums.
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A team of researchers, led by Group Leader Dr Nir Grossman, UK DRI at Imperial College London, have been awarded a Transformative Healthcare Technologies Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). These funds will help with development and testing of non-invasive electrical deep brain stimulation technology, a potentially new and innovative way to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
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September is World Alzheimer’s Month, a chance to shine a spotlight on this devastating condition and other neurodegenerative diseases that lead to dementia. Throughout the month, we’ll be highlighting the ground-breaking research and initiatives being undertaken by dementia scientists, discovering how they’re uncovering more about the fundamental causes and, most importantly, unlocking the knowledge to develop much-needed treatments.
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September 2021 marks the 10th year of World Alzheimer’s Month – an international campaign co-ordinated by Alzheimer’s Disease International to raise awareness around the diseases that cause dementia. This year, we want to shine a spotlight on all the brilliant research taking place across the UK and learn a bit more about the people behind it.
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A new mechanism that stops the progression of Huntington’s disease in cells has been identified by researchers working together from two UK DRI Centres at UCL and Cambridge. Researchers say the breakthrough study, published in Cell Reports, could lead to much needed therapies for the rare genetic disease, which is currently incurable.
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Published in the scientific journal EClinicalMedicine, the study involving over 80,000 individuals provides evidence of acute problems with thinking and attention in people who have recovered from Covid-19. Supported by the UK DRI and led by Dr Adam Hampshire, UK DRI Associate member based at Imperial College London, the findings suggest more severe Covid-19 symptoms lead to lower scores achieved on a series of online tests, with performance on reasoning and problem-solving tasks being most affected.
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A team of researchers led by Prof Kei Cho, Group Leader from UK DRI at King’s, has uncovered a new molecular mechanism behind the weakening of synapses and neuronal dysfunction in tauopathies. The findings, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, provide new insight into the cascade of pathological events initiated by harmful tau hyperphosphorylation, and point to possible new treatments for several neurodegenerative diseases.
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Whilst the most common diseases that cause dementia, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are well recognised, there is less recognition of, and support for, rare dementias. Prof Nick Fox, director of the Dementia Research Centre and UK DRI Group Leader at UCL, talks to us about the challenges faced by people living with rare dementias, the importance of Rare Dementia Support and the future of research into these conditions.
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A new study shows that participation in elite adult rugby may be associated with changes in brain structure. The research was published today (22 July 2021) in Brain Communications, by senior author Prof David Sharp, Centre Director of UK DRI Care Research & Technology, and colleagues at Imperial and UCL.
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The largest study of its kind ever conducted on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown in the UK reveals wide-ranging positive and negative effects on the population’s mental health and wellbeing. Published today (16 July) in Nature Communications, the findings help identify those that may be most at risk, and benefits that could be carried forward as the country emerges from the pandemic.
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Collaboration and connection are at the heart of how the UK DRI takes on the challenge of making breakthroughs in dementia research. Prioritising inclusivity isn’t just the right thing to do – diversity of experience, perspectives and backgrounds increase innovation and significance of research output. In this article, we take a closer look into three UK DRI collaborations to find out more about the benefit of research diversification.
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As we start to see treatments emerge for dementia, we expect the effects to be quite modest at first. It would typically take further years or decades of therapeutic development to bring larger benefits and something more resembling a 'cure'. However, with recent breakthroughs in genetic technology, a more permanent solution may not seem so far off for some neurodegenerative diseases. To learn more, we spoke to Prof Vincent Dion, Group Leader from UK DRI at Cardiff and DNA repair theme Lead, whose work into gene editing is at the cutting-edge of the search for therapeutics.
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Prof David Sharp, Centre Director at the UK DRI Care Research & Technology Centre based at Imperial College London and University of Surrey, has been awarded a five-year grant to investigate the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in battlefield casualties from the UK Armed Forces. The TBI project aims to improve understanding of the relationship between environmental factors, such as TBI, and long-term neurological outcomes.
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Congratulations to UK DRI Director Bart De Strooper for being part of the team behind the new €60m company Muna Therapeutics, which aims to develop small molecules to repair neuronal dysfunction and resolve neuroinflammation. Muna is focused on addressing the staggering unmet need experienced by people affected by dementia around the world. Muna means ‘to remember’ in Old Norse.
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