Alzheimer’s Research UK has pledged a further £5.5m investment in new projects, increasing its current funding for research to more than £20million.
The announcement, which coincides with World Alzheimer’s Day on 21 September includes awards for 52 new grants aimed at understanding the causes of dementia, improving diagnosis and finding new treatments and preventions.
Studies to benefit include:
• A three-year project led by Prof Patricia Salinas, at UCL in London, to study a protein that plays a key role in the destruction of the connections between brain cells, called synapses. The project will also see researchers test whether different molecules can stop synapses being destroyed – the first step towards the development of new drugs to help treat Alzheimer’s.
• A programme at the University of Manchester to investigate how a person’s genetic profile contributes to their risk of frontotemporal dementia. Researchers will screen DNA samples from 1,500 people with the disease and compare them to 1,500 healthy people, to help confirm newly-identified genes that are thought to raise the risk of the disease.
Deborah Gatesman, whose father James was diagnosed with the disease in 2003 at the age of 74 and now lives in a nursing home, said: “We had a two-year struggle to get a diagnosis for Dad, and watching his decline has been absolutely heartbreaking. His symptoms crept on slowly at first, but he gradually began to lose all concept of time and became more and more confused. He’s now in a home where he can receive the specialist care he needs, and even though it’s lovely to visit him, he no longer recognises me. We desperately need new treatments so it’s great to see new money being invested in research.”
Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading charity specialising in finding preventions, treatments and a cure for dementia. For more information or to donate www.alzheimersresearchuk.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment