London University chosen to be focal point of new dementia institute

UCL has been selected to be the hub of a new £250m UK Dementia Research Institute.

The Institute (UKDRI) was formed following a joint investment by the Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. The Institute will further research efforts to diagnose, treat, care for and prevent dementia – an umbrella term for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntingdon’s and vascular dementia.

Professor Bart De Strooper, current leader at the Laboratory for the Research of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Leuven has been appointed Director of the newly formed Institute. He said: “Right now, our understanding of these diseases is not dissimilar to what we knew, or thought we knew, about cancer several decades ago. What we need is a paradigm shift in the way we think about dementias.

“Just as we realised that a whole range of factors is responsible for how cancers occur and progress in an individual, we now need to take a more holistic view of dementia and accept that a wide range of approaches may be needed in order to be successful. We have a huge amount of discovery science to do – and I want to see real surprises.”

Currently there are no treatments available that can stop or slow the effects of the condition, even though advances in technology have increased researchers’ understanding of dementia’s origins.

The UKDRI will operate across a number of location in the UK, to be announced over the next few months. Dementia recently became the leading cause of death in England and Wales, replacing coronary heart disease.