We are delighted to announce a generous £7.5 million gift from the Michael Uren Foundation that will drive forward four experimental research projects at the UK DRI, aiming to improve diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and develop effective new avenues for treatment.
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Launched in March 2021, the UK DRI Translation Award programme was established to kick start the early development of projects with high translational potential, bringing us closer to new technologies and treatments for dementia. We caught up with a selection of the successful past recipients to discover the impact these awards have had on their research.
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Today the pharmaceutical company Eisai, in collaboration with Biogen, has announced positive results from its phase 3 trial of lecanemab for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Eisai reports, using a numeric scale to quantify severity of symptoms, that the drug slowed rate of cognitive decline by 27% compared with a placebo.
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We are delighted to announce that Prof Nick Fox (UK DRI at UCL) has been awarded the European Grand Prix 2022 by the French Alzheimer Research Foundation.
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Every year, the number of people with dementia increases, with estimates suggesting more than 1 million people in the UK will be living with the condition by 2030. As this figure increases, there is an even greater need for breakthroughs in developing treatments and improving lives. So how close are we to new therapeutics? And what innovations will help us get there? This World Alzheimer's Day, we asked UK DRI researchers for their predictions on what we can expect over the next decade, and where they see the most promising advances.
A new study led by Prof. Giampietro Schiavo (UK DRI at UCL) has uncovered why certain types of motor neurons are differentially affected in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The findings, published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications, could open up new avenues for drug discovery and treatments for this disease.
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Today, the UK DRI published a new report, detailing the impact of scientific research on health inequalities for people affected by dementia. As the report launches at the start of World Alzheimer’s Month, the UK DRI is urging the Government to prioritise funding for scientific innovation, to facilitate larger dementia trials, remove barriers that stop people taking part in research and close the gap on health inequalities.
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The first half of the 2022 saw the European alliance for neurodegenerative research, CURE-ND, come together for a London meeting of early career researchers (ECRs), a networking and showcase event at Europe’s biggest neuroscience conference and a collective request for urgent clarity and action surrounding the UK’s association with Horizon Europe.
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A new study led by Prof Paul Matthews (UK DRI at Imperial) has identified a genetic link between damage to the main blood vessels of the heart, and brain small vessel disease, a common cause of vascular dementia.
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A new study led by Prof David Rubinsztein (UK DRI at Cambridge) has identified a way to enhance the cell’s ability to clear away misfolded proteins, such as those implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
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In a new blog post this week, Roudie Shafie, a partner at OVID Health, argues that while beating dementia is a “Herculean task”, the UK has all the necessary components in its research ecosystem to achieve real results.
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Amid ongoing negotiations about the UK’s association to Horizon Europe, the UK Government's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published a policy paper outlining how the UK will transition to a new R&D programme. UK DRI Director Prof Bart De Strooper comments on the release.
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Prof Derk-Jan Dijk (UK DRI Care Research & Technology) published an article in The Conversation discussing his latest study into sleep and dementia - read it here.
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Researchers led by Prof Karen Duff (UK DRI Centre Director at UCL) and Prof Andrew Yoo (Washington University School of Medicine) have created a new model system for studying the pathology of tau, a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), frontotemporal lobe dementias (FTD) and other neurodegenerative conditions, as reported in a new study published in Cell Stem Cell.
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A new study led by Dr Frances Wiseman (UK DRI at UCL) has identified a subset of genes that may protect against the accumulation of amyloid beta, a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, in people who have Down syndrome. The study is published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
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The directors of four of Europe’s leading neuroscience research institutes – which together form the CURE-ND alliance (Catalysing a United Response in Europe to Neurodegeneration) – have today called upon the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to confirm the UK’s full association to Horizon Europe without delay.
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We are pleased to announce the latest recipients of our cross-centre postdoctoral awards – a scheme designed to stimulate exciting new academic relationships, and encourage collaboration between researchers across our seven centres.
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This World Parkinson’s Day (11 April), researchers from the UK DRI Centre at Cardiff welcomed people affected by the condition to hear about the latest cutting-edge research in the field, and discuss future therapeutic prospects for the disease. A portion of the event was broadcast virtually and can now be accessed online.
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Researchers led by Prof David Klenerman (UK DRI at Cambridge) have designed a new ‘chemical antibody’ that will help them understand the origins of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
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A new mouse study led by Prof Bill Wisden (UK DRI at Imperial) has found that stress can boost sleep and subsequently relieve anxiety. With emotional distress being a common symptom for those living with dementia, the findings could lead to new treatments targeting the underlying mechanism identified.
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