The specialist theme for 2010 was dementia.
Dr Elizabeth Sampson - University College London
Dr Richard Killick, Institute of Psychiatry - King's College London
Dr Amrit Mudher - University of Southampton
Professor Martin Rossor - Institute of Neurology, University College London
Professor Paul Francis - Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London
Dr Daqing Ma - Imperial College London
Professor Carol Brayne - University of Cambridge
Professor David Small - University College London and University of Tasmania
Dr Carole Parsons - Queen's University Belfast
Grant £112,206
The Impact of acute hospitalisation on people with dementia: the behaviour and pain (BepAid) Study
Aim
The aim is to carry out research into the effect of hospitalisation on people with dementia. Dr Sampson's team will use a number of techniques to measure pain and behavioural symptoms in people with dementia to understand how they are linked. The researchers will also analyse how successful hospital staff are at detecting pain in patients who have dementia and monitor the treatments used.
Findings
This research will be important in understanding how hospital treatment can be improved for people with dementia, and how better training of hospital staff can be developed. This is the first time a research project has been undertaken to specifically address the issue of pain and the way it is treated in people with dementia.
Patient benefit
Providing staff with tools to better interpret patients' expressions of pain may not only facilitate improvements in hospital treatment and pain relief, but also reductions in other prescribed medication.
Grant £245,899
Uncovering the molecular mechanism of the amyloid cascade: p53 as a central component
Aim
The hallmark of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of two proteins in the brain. Scientists believe that amyloid is produced first and triggers the accumulation of tau, which is toxic to nerve cells. Dr Killick's research team have found that a key protein, called p53, may be involved in this process. Their research suggests that amyloid activates p53, which in turn targets tau. Dr Killick will analyse the activity of key proteins in nerve cells grown in the laboratory. Their findings will be confirmed by analysing post-mortem brain tissue from people with dementia. The team will also test whether drugs that target p53 might be effective at blocking this Alzheimer's disease pathway.
Findings
This research will provide new understanding of the biochemistry of Alzheimer's disease. In particular this work will tell us more about how amyloid and tau interact during the disease and their role in the death of nerve cells.
Patient benefit
The work may help to identify potential new drug candidates for the future.
Grant £200,431
Which attributes of tau mediate toxicity: expression levels or aggregation?
Aim
Dr Mudher has developed a fruit fly model for investigating the role of tau in Alzheimer's disease and has used to it to show how tau acts during the disease. Dr Mudher has also found that treatment with the known drug Lithium not only protects cells from the effects of tau, but also causes the abnormal tau to accumulate in rounded clumps or 'sinks' which are then less likely to cause damage to the cell. This new project will study this effect.
Findings
Using the fruit fly model with high powered microscopy and biochemical techniques Dr Mudher's team will study what the clumps are made of, how they are formed, whether they protect nerve cells, and whether any other means can be used to produce them.
Patient benefit
This ongoing research will contribute to understanding of the tau protein in Alzheimer's disease and whether a drug to target the protein could be a viable candidate for a treatment in the future.
Grant £113,291
Patient derived cell models of the dementias
Aim
Much of our understanding of the biology of dementia has been discovered through studying people with rare causes of the disease. This type of research on how genetic traits, or mutations, result in changes in the brain that lead to dementia cannot be carried out on living people. However, an exciting new technique has now been developed that allows scientists to take a skin cell from a person and transform it into a nerve cell. The resulting cells have the exact genetic makeup as the person they originally came from. Professor Rossor's team work closely with people with rare forms of dementia. They have been awarded this project grant to develop a library of nerve cells derived from people with genetic traits that cause them to develop dementia.
Findings
The outcomes of this research will be made available to scientists around the world. Using patient derived cell models in this way will become an essential research tool for dementia scientists.
Patient benefit
This will be an invaluable aid to research into the underlying causes of dementia, as well as the development of new treatments.
Grant £246,415
Biochemical and histopathological basis of cognitive and behavioural disturbance in Lewy body dementia
Aim
Lewy Body Dementia accounts for 1 in 5 people with dementia in the UK. This type of dementia often results in severe psychiatric symptoms. Analysis of brain tissue from such patients has shown clumps of protein inside nerve cells. Scientists believe these clumps result in disruption of the important chemical messengers that cells use to communicate, but the mechanism for this is not yet clear. Professor Francis has been awarded a project grant to investigate the biochemistry of Lewy Body Dementia using biochemical and cellular techniques to analyse the events occurring in nerve cells during the disease. The work will be carried out using nerve cells grown in the laboratory.
Findings
This work will provide important information about this lesser-known form of dementia.
Patient benefit
Better understanding of the biology of Lewy body dementia will help in the development of better treatments in the future. This is particularly important for people with this type of dementia since the currently available dementia treatments are not suitable for them.
Grant £139,418
Novel strategies to prevent early onset of Alzheimer's disease induced by surgery
Aim
People who have undergone surgery, particularly older people, often experience some temporary cognitive problems called post-operative delirium. In a small number of people surgery results in long-term cognitive decline, thought to be linked to inflammation in the brain in a similar way to Alzheimer's disease. However, the biochemical mechanism for a link between surgery and dementia is not understood. Dr Ma has been awarded a project grant to investigate how surgery might be linked to dementia.
Findings
Working with mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, the researchers will investigate whether surgery speeds up the development of amyloid plaques and tangles in the brain. Two drugs, a statin and the active ingredient of the herbal remedy Celastrol, will be tested to see if they can protect against cognitive decline following surgery. If successful, the next phase of this research would be a clinical trial in humans. This work could help us understand why some people develop cognitive decline after undergoing surgery and indicate ways to prevent this.
Patient benefit
This research could enable us to protect surgical patients against effects that potentially contribute to developing dementia in later life.
Grant £50,000
Systematic reviews in dementia
Aim
Systematic reviews are a valuable tool for understanding the current state of knowledge and evidence in a particular area of research. They involve reviewing all the research and analysing the findings to see which findings are consistent across a number of different studies. In dementia research, this approach will be important for answering questions about how lifestyle factors affect the risk of dementia, and well as looking at the benefits conferred by certain treatments. Professor Brayne's team will manage three new systematic reviews into prevention and living well with dementia.
Findings
This essential research could contribute towards identifying the important risk factors and potential therapies for dementia, as well as directing future research efforts. Systematic reviews are extremely important in preventing duplication of research studies and ensuring the best use of valuable research resources.
Patient benefit
This important research will inform the scientific community as well as enabling the best information and advice to be provided to patients.
Grant £50,000
Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells: a new target for Alzheimer's disease treatment
Aim
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. Research has shown that insulating cells are damaged in people with dementia, indicating that they could be a good target for treatment. Insulating cells are produced by a group of cells called Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells (OPCs) and it could be possible to boost their activity to repair or replace lost insulating cells. However, very little is currently known about this. Professor David Small will investigate the potential of OPCs to be a treatment target for Alzheimer's disease at two research institutes, one in Australia and one in London.
Findings
Researchers will work with mouse models of Alzheimer's disease to find out what happens to OPCs and insulating cells during Alzheimer's disease and whether OPCs could be a potential target for a treatment.
Patient benefit
This research will contribute to a better understanding of the role of other important brain cells in dementia, and whether they could be targeted by a treatment in the future.
Grant £67,545
Care of nursing home patients with advanced dementia
Aim
The aim of this project is to examine the feasibility of a study collecting data on clinical and medication use; medical interventions; significant health events and advance directives, for nursing home residents in three nursing homes in Northern Ireland.
Findings
The outcomes will inform researchers on the best way to carry out a larger survey of Northern Ireland nursing homes in order to determine which of the residents' medications are 'never appropriate', 'rarely appropriate', 'sometimes appropriate' or 'always appropriate' for use in residents with advanced dementia, who are nearing the end of life. The response rates obtained, together with data collected for the number of participating residents taking 'never appropriate' medication/s, will allow more accurate sample size calculation in preparation for the larger study.
Patient benefit
This will be an important contribution to improved care for people with dementia in care homes, particularly in relation to the appropriateness of prescribed medicine. This will prevent many medication side-effects, which can be distressing for patients with dementia.
