Our research
There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease and the only two approved drugs provide very limited symptomatic relief without changing the course of the diseases. The past decades of drug development have focused on clearing amyloid or reducing its formation but unfortunately have all failed to deliver. Hence, there is an unmet need for new therapeutic avenues in dementia.
The Dementia Research Centre has established a portfolio of innovative strategies and novel targets for drug development in Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative conditions. The multidisciplinary team of the Dementia Research Centre works closely with medicinal chemists and international pharmaceutical industry to accelerate translation into novel therapies for these devastating diseases.
Research teams:
The current discovery research program of the Dementia Research Centre strives to identify novel disease mechanisms and reveal new avenues to treat these devastating conditions. To achieve this aim, our different discovery research programs investigate a broad range of molecular processes, including the roles of cytoskeleton dynamics, kinase signalling and RNA regulation in normal brain function and disease.
Research teams:
The team at the Dementia Research Centre has extensive experience with the development of both cell culture-based and animal models of dementia. Within the Dementia Research Centre, we employ the latest technologies to develop novel in vivo disease models and 3D cell culture systems that accelerate both discovery research and drug development for Alzheimer’s diseases and related forms of dementia.
Research teams:
Neuropathology provides the unique opportunity to visualise disease-specific protein abnormalities and the cell types and brain regions affected that cause neurodegeneration. The team at the Dementia Research Centre has a particular interest in dementia and related disorders, brain ageing and transgenic animal models of these disorders.
Investigating the selective regional and cellular vulnerability in these disorders and associated clinicopathological relationships is a main research focus. We examine clinically and pathologically well-characterised human brain tissue from sporadic and genetic neurodegenerative disorders sourced from national and international Brain Banks and Research Institutions, and transgenic models of dementia.
Research teams: