We are proud to announce that eight UK DRI researchers have featured in this year’s Highly Cited Researcher 2024 list from Clarivate. The annual ranking identifies researchers who have demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade.
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We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 UK DRI Recognition Prizes, awarded this week at our annual conference, Connectome. The prizes are designed to recognise and highlight excellence across the UK DRI community, including the addition of two exciting new categories this year. The prizes were awarded by UK DRI Director Prof Siddharthan Chandran during the conference, highlighting those individuals excelling in the categories of...
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The UK Dementia Research Institute has today announced multimillion major new government funding to “supercharge” advances in research and develop and deliver new solutions for people living with or at risk of dementia and related neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease. This will include training the next generation of “delivery scientists and health practitioners” in dementia, and new AI and data initiatives to accelerate the discovery of new therapies.
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A drug commonly used to treat glaucoma has been shown in zebrafish and mice to protect against the build-up in the brain of the protein tau, reveals new research led by Prof David Rubinsztein (UK DRI at Cambridge). The study is published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.
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A new “Dementia Trials Accelerator”, backed by £20m of government funding, has been launched to increase the number of people participating in dementia clinical trials in the UK from just 61 in 2021-22 to “tens of thousands”. Spearheaded by two national research institutes, the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) and Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), the Dementia Trials Accelerator will tackle the historically low numbers of people enrolled into dementia trials in the UK.
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Today the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved donanemab for use in the UK to treat mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease in some adults. However, draft guidance released simultaneously by NICE, has said that more evidence is needed on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the drug.
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Prof Sarah Tabrizi (UK DRI at UCL and UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) has been elected to the US National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in recognition of her outstanding achievements and work relating to Huntington’s disease (HD).
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We are delighted to announce 20 exciting projects in the sixth and seventh round of UK DRI Pilot Awards Programme. The initiative is designed to encourage UK DRI early career researchers (ECRs) to take steps towards independence, whilst pursuing new and innovative avenues of research.
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Transforming the lives of people affected by neurodegenerative disease is at the heart of our mission at the UK DRI. Yet sometimes, scientists working in the lab have limited opportunity to interact with people who have lived experience of the conditions they are researching. A recent event organised by Dr Shlomi Haar (UK DRI Centre for Care Research & Technology) aimed to address this, bringing together people with Parkinson’s and researchers, for discussions in a dynamic and interactive format.
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AviadoBio Ltd., a spin-out company co-founded by UK DRI at King’s researcher Prof Chris Shaw, announced today an exclusive option and license agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc. for AVB-101, a gene therapy in Phase 1/2 development for patients with frontotemporal dementia with progranulin mutations (FTD-GRN).
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In this article Prof Adrian Isaacs (UK DRI at UCL) discusses his research journey, what he has learned from setbacks, the success of his project harnessing the fruit fly and why the support of the UK DRI has been invaluable to his lab’s development. This piece is part of our ‘Develop’ series, showcasing the UK DRI's mission to discover the causes of neurodegeneration, develop possible treatments and deliver solutions for healthy ageing.
A unique protein normally involved in the body’s immune response to viruses, could hold the key to safer immunotherapy treatment for Alzheimer’s, says Prof Will McEwan. This article is part of our ‘Develop’ series, showcasing the UK DRI's mission to discover the causes of neurodegeneration, develop possible treatments and deliver solutions for healthy ageing.
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September is World Alzheimer’s Month, a chance to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions. Throughout the month, we have been shining a spotlight on our brilliant research community, highlighting and celebrating the breadth of research taking place at the UK DRI.
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The first results from the innovative platform trial, MND-SMART, have been published in the journal The Lancet Neurology today. Led by Prof Siddharthan Chandran (UK DRI Director), Prof Suvankar Pal (UK DRI Co-Investigator) and the Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research, University of Edinburgh, the trial aims to significantly speed up delivery of new treatments for motor neuron disease (MND).
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A new mouse study led by Prof David Attwell (BHF-UK DRI Centre for Vascular Dementia Research) has found that a repurposed drug could reverse the effects of the decrease in brain blood flow that occurs in early Alzheimer’s. The research, published in Nature Neuroscience, could lead to new treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions involving reduced brain blood flow, such as vascular dementia.
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A team of scientists from the UK DRI at Cambridge and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC LMB) have developed new therapies that selectively remove aggregated tau proteins, which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and improve symptoms of neurodegeneration in mice.
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Prof Joanna Wardlaw (UK DRI at Edinburgh) is setting up the first phase III trial in cerebral small vessel disease aimed at improving cognitive symptoms by repurposing two drugs. This article is part of our ‘Deliver’ series, showcasing the UK DRI's mission to discover the causes of neurodegeneration, develop possible treatments and deliver solutions for healthy ageing.
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Brain waves can be manipulated whilst in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a sleep stage associated with memory and cognition, a new study from the University of Surrey and the UK DRI Centre for Care Research & Technology finds. Novel technology, using sound stimulation, allows scientists to speed up brain activity which becomes slower in people with dementia during this sleep stage.
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We are pleased to announce three new UK DRI Emerging Leaders: Dr Maura Malpetti, Dr Anna Mallach, and Dr Valeria Jaramillo.
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In the search for a possible solution for people who are affected by Huntington's, Prof Vincent Dion has developed an innovative gene editing technique, harnessing technology based on CRISPR to correct the mutation and halt the progression of the disease. This article is part of our ‘Discover’ series, framed by the UK DRI's mission to discover the causes of neurodegeneration, develop possible treatments and deliver solutions for healthy ageing.
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