Talks and Q&A with Prof Alan Thomas and Dr Daniel Erskine from our North Research Network.
This session featured talks about research into dementia with Lewy bodes taking place at Newcastle University. They spoke about what scientists are learning about DLB from lab studies, and how research is helping to improve how doctors can diagnose the disease.
Speakers
Dr Daniel Erskine is an Alzheimer’s Research UK Research Fellow based at Newcastle University. He will talk about his research into Lewy bodies, which are small clumps of protein found in the brain in DLB that give their name to the disease. His work is trying to understand how and why Lewy bodies form, and whether they are harmful to brain cells. This is important to understand, as there are drugs in development that aim to stop Lewy bodies forming. For these drugs to be effective, we need to know whether Lewy bodies are the cause of damage to nerve cells in the brain, or simply a bystander.
Prof Alan Thomas is a Professor of Old Age Psychiatry at Newcastle University where he runs studies to improve the early detection and characterisation of DLB. Evidence indicates that there are a range of signs that someone may later develop DLB, like sleep disruption, depression, and hallucinations. Prof Thomas will share how doctors have come together to try and create new diagnostic criteria for these early signs of DLB. He will also talk about findings from the SUPERB study, funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK, which is trying to identify early signs of DLB.
For more information or questions about the event, please email the Public Engagement team engage@alzheimersresearchuk.org
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