Newcastle researchers are working to come up with a drug to treat a horrifying form of dementia and to investigate what causes it - and they've received a massive funding boost.
With 40,000 people in the North East living with a form of dementia, Alzheimer's Research UK has announced that it is backing two projects at Newcastle University looking into a treatment for Dementia with Lewy Bodies. This is the form of the illness which afflicted film star Robin Williams - and is the third most common kind of dementia.
The landmark announcement comes on World Alzheimer's Day - and will see projects led by Professor John-Paul Taylor and Dr Daniel Erskine supported. Prof Taylor is examining whether a drug called Donepezil can alleviate some of the early symptoms of the condition.
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Prof Taylor's research will see £350,000 in funding, which will go towards using brain imaging and wearable sensors to see if the drug helps "messengers" in the brain which decline as the disease progresses. In a separate project, Dr Erskine is investigating how a fat molecule called sphingolipids could cause the brain damage that is linked to Lewy Body Dementia (DLB).
Prof Taylor said: "The hope is this research will reveal why drugs targeting DLB symptoms work well for some people but not for others. Understanding how they affect the brain differently in different people could help pave the way for more effective DLB treatments for all in the future."
There is currently no treatment that slows the development of DLB, Dr Erskine said. He added: "This suggests that we still do not know enough about how the disease causes damage to the brain and produces such complex symptoms."
Dr Erskine said Alzheimer's Research UK had backed him at a "critical time in my career". He added: "With one dementia researcher for every four cancer researchers, it’s important to increase the number of experts working in the field so we can deliver breakthroughs that change and save lives as we have in cancer.
"Funding a Senior Research Fellowship like this, will allow me to answer important questions getting us closer to running my own research group."
The charities head of research Dr Rosa Sancho said: “Nearly 40,000 people in the North-East are living with dementia, but research has the power to transform the lives of everyone affected, and it will take all of us to make breakthroughs possible.
"Thanks to committed fundraisers in the North-East we’re able to fund these research projects and others like it. Newcastle University is a pioneering hub of excellence for research into dementia with Lewy bodies and it was where the disease was first defined. It’s great to see this new research get underway in the region."
Researchers in Newcastle have previously made "world-first" discoveries in the field, with Dr Erskine behind work which showed how a specific protein could be linked to the disease - and that it was also found in the brains of babies with a devastating illness called Krabbe disease.
Lewy Bodies were first discovered a century ago in 1922, but scientists and doctors still do not know precisely why they form in the brain and cause illness.
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