We are driving projects that will accelerate the science of dementia prevention and empower people to make informed decisions to keep their brains healthy.
Prevent
Our risk of developing dementia is complex and made up of factors including our age, genetics and lifestyle. Research is unpicking how these factors interact and what we can do to prevent .
Alzheimer’s Research UK has funded one of the largest risk studies to date called Insight 46. This project has been following a group of people since their birth in the same week in March 1946. The team have used medical and life history data collected about the volunteers over their lives to start to tease apart why some people may go on to develop dementia and others not. Understanding the lifelong risk factors for dementia is no easy task but studying people over their whole lives presents an unparalleled opportunity to gain this important knowledge.
We also received a huge £3.8 million in funding from The Mike Gooley Trailfinders Charity allowing us to launch The Mike Gooley Trailfinders Charity Prevention and Risk Reduction Fund. This fund is dedicated to research that will support healthy brain function into old age. Find out more about the four innovative projects here.
In July 2024, a new report from the Lancet Commision identified 14 modifiable risk factors for dementia. Taken together, the researchers calculated that these 14 risk factors account for almost half (45%) of all dementia cases around the world. That means there’s a huge opportunity to stop dementia before it ever starts.
Current projects and initiatives
Understanding the links between obesity in parents and children’s future dementia risk
Researchers are unpicking the links between obesity in parents and the effect to their children’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s later in life
Understanding the link between sport and dementia risk
This project will review the current evidence around the benefits and risks of sport and, through collaboration with stakeholders in research, clinicians, and sporting bodies, define future research priorities in this space.
Understanding the link between wellbeing and brain function in dementia
Researchers will analyse data from large-scale studies and databases to understand the link between wellbeing and brain function decline in dementia.
Are risk factors for heart disease linked to brain health?
Researchers will analyse data from large studies to explore whether risk factors for heart disease in early life will impact brain health.
Using Killifish to study Alzheimer’s disease in the lab
Researchers at the University of Bath are investigating if Killifish could be used as a model for Alzheimer’s disease
How faulty waste disposal proteins could lead to tau tangles in Alzheimer’s and FTD
Researchers at University College London are investigating how a specific protein in the cell’s waste disposal system affects tau aggregation in human nerve cells.
Detecting proteins in the blood to diagnose and manage dementia
Researchers at UCL are making a new sensor which can detect a marker of brain diseases in the blood,
Understanding the relationship between iron and dementia
Researchers at the University of Oxford are investigating how iron levels can be used as a marker for dementia.