Alexander Peden
Research Fellow
- National Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) Research & Surveillance Unit
- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences
- (Optional)
Contact details
Undergraduate teaching
Lecturer on Prion Diseases for the Molecular Basis of Infection and Medical Biology Honours courses.
Set and marked undergraduate examination questions for the above courses.
Course tutor for second year medical students.
Postgraduate teaching
Assistant PhD Supervisor
Research summary
The 65+ Dementia Study aims to determine whether there is unrecognised prion disease in the older Lothian population. Around 100 people in the UK are diagnosed with prion disease every year, however we think that more might be infected but their illness may not have been recognised, perhaps because the signs and symptoms are similar to different forms of dementia. This research will use patient assessment, blood samples, brain scans and samples of brain tissue from people in Lothian when they die, to find if prion disease is being missed and why.
Past research interests
Established a protocol for ‘enhanced’ surveillance of CJD focussed on the 65+ population, using state-of-the-art biochemical tests for the analysis of autopsy tissues. Created an opportunity for this to be applied to a UK-wide surveillance programme. Enabled technology transfer from a US research group, for the ultra-sensitive of detection of prions. Now established as a crucial test for CJD in the UK. Detected and reported first cases of variant CJD infection (i) following blood transfusion and (ii) following treatment with implicated blood products, both in patients who had genotypes previously thought to confer resistance: Findings used to support changes in UK public health policy. Characterised the pathology and genetics of patients who acquired CJD as a result of human growth hormone therapy: Contributed to a study showing evidence that these patients also acquired an Alzheimer disease pathology. Initiated an investigation into rarer human prion diseases to gain new molecular insights into CJD.Project activity
The 65+ Dementia Study: Enhanced surveillance of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in the older population
The 65+ Dementia Study aims to determine whether there is unrecognised prion disease in the older Lothian population. Around 100 people in the UK are diagnosed with prion disease every year, however we think that more might be infected but their illness may not have been recognised, perhaps because the signs and symptoms are similar to different forms of dementia. This research will use patient assessment, blood samples, brain scans and samples of brain tissue from people in Lothian when they die, to find if prion disease is being missed and why.