Meet the new research fellows bringing bold ideas to life

This summer, Alzheimer’s Research UK awarded Research Fellowships to nine outstanding early-career scientists — a £2.75 million investment in the future of dementia research. These Fellowships are designed to empower the next generation of researchers to lead their own projects, bring bold new ideas into the field, and build the skills they need to become tomorrow’s research leaders.

From investigating how fats influence dementia risk, to uncovering new genes linked to the diseases that cause dementia and exploring hearing tests as a tool for earlier diagnosis — the newly funded projects the fellows will be working on span a wide range of innovative approaches.

Since 2015, Alzheimer’s Research UK has helped double the size of the UK’s dementia research community, growing from 5,000 to over 10,000 researchers. We believe that backing talented individuals with ambitious ideas is key to making breakthroughs and ultimately stopping more people from being affected by this devastating condition.

 

Exploring new approaches to diagnosis

Dr Jessica Jiang, based at University College London, is developing a hearing test that could pick up rarer forms of dementia such as Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) at an earlier stage. Getting a timely and accurate diagnosis of dementia can be particularly difficult for people from some ethnic communities and for those with rarer forms of the condition, such as PPA.

One promising approach is to look at “brain hearing” – the way our brains process sounds in noisy, everyday environments. Research shows that difficulties with brain hearing can appear early in both Alzheimer’s disease and PPA, making it a potential tool for earlier and culture-fair diagnosis across diverse groups.

Dr Jiang will develop new brain hearing tests that mimic real-world listening situations. The tests will then be used to track how well they predict changes in memory, communication and social function over time in people with early Alzheimer’s, PPA and healthy volunteers.

The long-term goal is to embed these new tests into a digital platform that could be rolled out in the NHS. With input from people affected by dementia shaping the research, this work aims to create more inclusive tools for early diagnosis and better support for people living with dementia in everyday life.

A third of people living with dementia in the UK never receive a formal diagnosis. For those who do, they can face long waits – up to a year for those over the age of 65, and up to four years for those under 65. That’s why projects like Dr Jiang’s are so important, and why Alzheimer’s Research UK are calling for ambitious NHS reforms so everyone can receive a faster, more accurate dementia diagnoses over the next decade.

Learn more about our Dementia Unseen campaign and how you can help us make early and accurate dementia diagnosis a right for everyone in the UK.

 

Going beyond current treatments

At the University of Cambridge, Dr Tanja Fuchsberger is investigating how we might stop Alzheimer’s before symptoms begin. Alzheimer’s disease is widely known for causing memory loss and changes in thinking, but researchers are learning that subtle changes happen in the brain long before these symptoms appear. One of the earliest signs seems to be that brain cells become unusually overactive, even before amyloid plaques build-up and cells die.

This project is investigating how this early overactivity affects the way brain cells make proteins, which are vital for healthy function. While later stages of Alzheimer’s are linked to faulty protein production, it is not yet clear what happens when protein production increases in the early stages.

To explore this, Dr Fuchsberger will use mouse models of Alzheimer’s alongside lab-grown human brain cells called organoids. Her early findings suggest that both brain overactivity and increased protein production occur long before memory problems begin. By studying the pathways involved, and testing whether drugs can restore balance, the research aims to uncover new ways to protect brain health and slow the build-up of harmful proteins in Alzheimer’s.

 

Learning how more people can reduce their risk

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and motor neurone disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are devastating conditions with no cure. In most people with ALS and about half with FTD, brain cells show problems with a protein called TDP-43, which is thought to play a key role in cell death.

Recent research has found that changes in certain fats inside brain cells may also be linked to brain cell damage. In some studies, restoring these fat levels delayed cell death, but it is not yet clear how this works or how it connects to TDP-43.

Dr Alexander Cammack at University College London will explore how fat levels change in nerve cells affected by TDP-43 dysfunction, using both lab-grown human brain cells and mouse models. He will then test whether restoring healthy fat levels through diet could protect nerve cells and slow disease progression.

Because fats in the brain are partly influenced by what we eat, this research could open the door to new dietary approaches for people with FTD and ALS. By challenging the outdated assumption that dementia is an inevitable part of ageing, projects like Dr Cammack’s bring us closer to understanding how to protect our brains. If you’d like to find out more about your own brain health, you can take our Think Brain Health Check-in here.

 

Tackling dementia from every angle

We’re proud to be supporting bold and ambitious projects like these, each bringing a fresh perspective to one of the greatest medical challenges of our time. Dementia is complex, and it’s clear that no single approach will be enough. That’s why we’re funding research that tackles the condition from many different angles – from preventing early damage, to developing new ways to diagnose dementia, and finding strategies to reduce risk.

You can learn more about our Research Fellowship schemes and follow future updates here.