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Brain Ageing and its Disorders
The Interdisciplinary Research Group in Brain Ageing and its Disorders was formally established in October 2000 to facilitate investigation of the ageing brain.
We have been funded by a Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) Research Development Grant award, under the SHEFC Centre for the Study of the Ageing Brain.
This has allowed us to create a coordinated core of clinical and basic science facilities promoting research into age-related mental health disorders.
We have been successful in establishing novel interactions, developing resources, attaining additional external grant funding and promoting training and research output in an area of national/international scientific importance and NHS priority.
Over the next few years we aim to consolidate this key endeavour.
Recent international brain research
As the maximum human lifespan increases in developing nations, the number of people who suffer from age-related mental health disorders is increasing.
The last decade of the 20th century witnessed a massive expansion of brain research internationally, with the study of brain ageing and associated mental health disorders as a key focus.
Crucial recent findings include:
- The recognition that substantial cognitive (memory) variation occurs in the otherwise healthy elderly without apparent or definable disease.
- The establishment of sensitive cognitive measurement techniques for both humans and animal models that usefully discriminate between ‘successful’ and ‘unsuccessful’ ageing of the brain and its functions.
- The definition of genes determining important human neurodegenerative disorders, for example genes involved in both familial and late-onset Alzheimer's disease, motor neuron disease and Parkinson’s disease.
- The initiation of strategies for gene and cellular therapy of the diseased brain.
- The burgeoning attempts at pharmacotherapy of the disordered ageing brain, including the use of dopaminergic agents in Parkinson’s disease, cholinergic drugs in Alzheimer's disease and glutamate antagonists in motor neuron disease and stroke.
Affiliation
Convener
Principal investigators
Professor Jonathan R Seckl (Endocrinology)
Professor Jeanne Bell (Neuropathology)
Professor Ian Deary (Psychology)
Dr Martin Dennis (Clinical Neurosciences)
Professor James Ironside (Neuropathology/CJD Unit)
Dr Alasdair MacLullich (Geriatric Medicine)
Professor Richard Morris (Neuroscience)
Professor Peter Sandercock (Clinical Neurosciences)
Dr John Starr (Geriatric Medicine)
Dr Joanna Wardlaw (Imaging)
Professor Charles Warlow (Clinical Neurosciences)
Dr Joyce Yau (Endocrinology, Molecular Medicine Centre)
This article was published on Feb 4, 2009