Biomedical Sciences

Alzheimer research funding success

Dr. Tara Spires-Jones, Chancellor's Fellow and Reader with the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems, has secured funding to lead a 3 year project, with co-investigators Dr. Iris Oren and Dr. Oliver Hardt.

The three year study could bring new treatments a step closer, more than 80,000 people in Scotland suffer from Alzheimer's, and the number is due to double in the next 25 years.

The £450,000 funding has been awarded by Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Scottish Government, who will each contribute £225,000.

The aim of the project is to study changes in the brain, which stop nerve cells communicating with each other. As they break down, memory begins to fail.

Collaborating with scientists in America, they hope to get a much clearer understanding of the basic biology of Alzheimer's which could inform clinical trials of new treatments for the disease.

We are thrilled to have secured this funding, which will allow us to gain a much clearer understanding of the mechanisms at play in Alzheimer's disease. There is still much we need to learn about the basic biology of Alzheimer's in order to understand how to treat the disease, and the knowledge we gain from our research should inform clinical trials for much-needed new treatments.

Dr Tara Spires-JonesChancellors Fellow and Reader, Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems