Current Scottish research

University of Aberdeen
University of Edinburgh
Dundee Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre
Glasgow University and Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley
University of Stirling
Alzheimer Scotland Research Fund
Other relevant organisations outwith Scotland
Research links

Introduction

One of Alzheimer Scotland’s aims is to promote and encourage research. This information sheet covers much of the current medical and non-medical research in Scotland. It will help you if you would like to take part in or support research, or if you just want to know what research is going on. It is our policy not to specifically endorse any research, not to directly recruit any volunteers and not to advise people to participate or not participate. We believe that individuals must make their own informed decisions. Find out more in our information sheet Volunteering for Research into Dementia.

Several research centres are making contributions to medical research on dementia, including: Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. Social research issues related to dementia are being investigated at the Centre for Social Research on Dementia at Stirling University.

University of Aberdeen

Projects in the Department of Psychology, Aberdeen

1. Quality of life
Dementia profoundly affects the lives of afflicted individuals. Assessing these consequences is important for optimal care and the evaluation of treatment effects. This project investigates quality of life as experienced by the person with dementia and the contributing factors to it.

2. Decision-making capacity
When people get older they are more likely to be involved in important decisions and this is even more so in people with dementia, who may have to face decisions about their health, their care, financial matters, and living arrangements. It is important that people with dementia are involved in these decisions for as long as possible. This project investigates how decision-making capacity can be optimally assessed in older adults and people with dementia.

3. Emotion perception in Alzheimer’s disease
People with AD may experience difficulties in recognizing emotions expressed by others. Impairments have been found on laboratory tasks, such as recognition of facial expressions on photographs. In everyday life emotions are not communicated in isolation. Emotions are expressed in multiple ways: facial expressions, melody of voice, body movement. This project investigates whether people with AD are able to perceive emotions in everyday life situations.

Brain Bank
In Aberdeen there is a brain bank dedicated to the collection of Alzheimer tissue for research. It is located in the Pathology Department of Grampian University Hospitals, under the supervision of Dr. James MacKenzie, Consultant Neuropathologist and Dr Charles Harrington, Senior Research Fellow in Mental Health. This brain bank is in its infancy, but tissue has already been used in a recent project looking at the incidence of dementia due to vascular disease and for testing of a number of new anti-tau antibodies.

How can you help?
Many people would like to donate their brain for research. If the person you care for wanted to do this contact the Brain bank to find about the necessary arrangements. There is no cost to the relatives and it will not delay funeral arrangements. The relatives will always be informed of the results and given the diagnosis. A detailed neuropathologist’s report will be sent to the patient’s GP. If you want to know more about the bank contact:
Dr. James MacKenzie on 01224 552442, or by e-mail: j.m.mackenzie@abdn.ac.uk

University of Edinburgh

Centre for Neuroscience

The Centre for Neuroscience is an 'institute-without-walls' that has members in several different departments.

Research on a possible vaccine and other novel treatments for AD
A possible vaccine, which may help to treat AD, is being researched through the use of suitable animal models. The team is primarily interested in whether this treatment can ameliorate any of the cognitive symptoms of the disease.

The team has developed a new spatial learning task for mice. This development has enabled researchers to test specially-bred mice which develop amyloid plaques in their brains as they age, like those in people with AD. The task uses a 'water-maze' in which the mice swim to find a platform just under the surface of cloudy water. Rather than testing longstanding spatial memories learned earlier in the animal's life – the very kinds of memories that tend to be preserved in AD – the new test imposes demands on the animal's more recent memory and memory retrieval mechanisms. This new task may be more similar to the kinds of problems faced by someone who has early AD, and so could give the testing of new drugs greater validity.

The laboratory is also testing compounds called gamma-secretase inhibitors. It is thought that the toxic form of the beta amyloid peptide may be one of the main pathological culprits in AD. These ‘gamma secretase’ compounds may help to inhibit the production of the beta amyloid peptide, but this is still being tested on the specially-bred mice. The laboratory is not recruiting volunteers for the next stage of development. The research team is aware that caution has to be expressed about this research. Tests with animals have limited validity - the proof comes from clinical trials. This was shown when a recent clinical trial of the vaccine had to be stopped due to inflammation of the central nervous system. This is disheartening, but not the end of the road for new drug treatments.

Unfortunately, the Centre cannot deal with personal enquiries about individual patients.

Division of Neuroscience website: www.dns.ed.ac.uk/academic_staff.html

Centre for the Study of the Ageing Brain

The Centre, at the Western General Hospital, houses dedicated research facilities, as well as a clinical unit for the recruitment and monitoring of ageing populations.

A new Interdisciplinary Grouping (IDG) to study ‘Brain Ageing and its Disorders’ has been established. This group creates a co-ordinated core of clinical and basic science facilities promoting research into age-related mental health disorders. Listed below is some of the research being carried out by this group.

The Centre for the Study of the Ageing Brain
University of Edinburgh Western General Hospital
Crewe Road, Edinburgh
EX4 2HU
Tel: 0131 651 1037
Fax: 0131 651 1085
E-mail: J.Seckl@ed.ac.uk

Neuropathology

Neuropathology work focuses on infective dementias particularly the influence of HIV on the brain. With the advent of effective therapy for AIDS, the incidence of dementia associated with AIDS has fallen dramatically. However, examination of the brain shows that most patients with HIV infection, whether demented or not, display inflammatory changes in brain tissue. This may have implications for other dementing illnesses and scientific interest is increasing in the possible contribution of inflammation to the onset and progress of AD.

This group has also been investigating the neurodegenerative effects of drug abuse. Among these effects are vascular disease and damage to the white matter in the brain, which also occurs in AD. Progress in understanding one disease may often be relevant to or help in understanding another disease.

Other studies address birth-related brain damage, and the genetic background which might influence the severity of that damage. One current idea is that mild forms of birth related damage may contribute to the earlier onset or greater severity of neurodegenerative conditions such as AD, which occur in later life.

Contact: Professor Jeanne E. Bell
E-mail: jeanne.bell@ed.ac.uk
The Centre for the Study of the Ageing Brain – see above.

Clinical Neurosciences – Brain Imaging

The very small blood vessels in the brain can sometimes become slightly 'leaky' as people get older. This may be rather like what happens to blood vessels in the back of the eye in patients with high blood pressure or diabetes and leads to blindness. Leakage of fluid from blood vessels into the brain may damage the surrounding nerve cells and nerve fibres. It is possible that this process could eventually cause sufficient damage for the patient to develop vascular dementia. It is also possible that the same disease process in small blood vessels contributes to the decline in mental function in patients with AD.

Contact: Professor Joanna M Wardlaw, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Western General Hospital, see above.

Endocrinology - stress, hormones and ‘successful’ brain ageing

Much evidence in animals and humans suggests that prolonged high levels of stress hormones called glucocorticoids (e.g. cortisol) in the blood impairs cognitive function (learning and memory). This effect becomes more marked with ageing. Blood cortisol levels are also very high in AD and may contribute to the worsening of the disorder. Long-term glucocorticoid excess has many adverse actions upon the biochemistry and function of the brain.

Crucially, manipulations which keep glucocorticoid levels low throughout life prevent the emergence of memory and learning deficits with age. However, such approaches, which involve surgical operations, are not suited to prevention in humans.

The Centre has identified two new approaches. They have found that some drugs reduce glucocorticoid levels in the long-term and this appears to protect the brain from the age-associated deficits of learning and memory, at least in rats. Whether such approaches are of use to humans remains unknown, but this will be a key goal of future research.

Similarly, the Centre has recently discovered an enzyme that amplifies glucocorticoid levels in the hippocampus. Mice lacking this enzyme are ‘protected’ against age-related deficits of learning and memory. The search for enzyme inhibitors for use in humans is now underway and trials of a ‘prototype’ drug (actually an old and relatively safe drug used for many years to treat stomach ulcers) are being conducted in healthy elderly subjects.

Several other major research groups contribute to the Centre, including psychologists studying the 1921 and other key Scottish birth cohorts, world-leading experts in human and animal behaviour and memory, the country’s largest Stroke research grouping, as well as molecular biologists, human geneticists and pharmacologists.

Contact: Professor Jonathan Seckl The Centre for the Study of the Ageing Brain – see above.

Brain Imaging Research Centre

The Centre has a state-of the-art magnetic resonance scanner. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical scanning procedure that uses a combination of a very strong magnet, radio waves and a computer to produce very detailed pictures of the body. MRI can reveal in remarkable detail many aspects of brain structure and function.

The Centre is conducting a number of research projects to determine:

1. What causes stroke and how this relates to cognitive decline.

2. How common leakiness of small vessels in the brain really is.

3. How it relates to vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

4. What factors seem to cause it (ageing, high blood pressure, diabetes, genetic factors and so on).

If leakiness is common and is closely related to the development of dementia, this would be an entirely new route to develop new treatments, which could slow down or prevent the development of dementia (see further details above).

Contact: Professor Joanna M Wardlaw
Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Western General Hospital– see above.

National CJD Surveillance Unit
Neuropathology of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)

This Unit is based in the Western General Hospital and comprises a team of workers addressing the epidemiology, pathology, clinical features and care of patients with CJD. The Neuropathology Laboratory focuses on investigations in the mechanisms of brain damage in CJD and provides a national diagnostic referral service.

The Unit provides a national referral system for the diagnosis of all cases of CJD in the UK, and is increasing its referral rate from Europe and overseas, as concern over BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) and brain CJD spreads. The Unit contains a dedicated laboratory with numerous research collaborations both in Edinburgh, across the UK and overseas.

Current areas of research interest include the effects of age in variant CJD and sporadic CJD, the distribution of the adult prion protein (PrP) (which causes CJD) outside the brain in CJD and the development of sensitive techniques to detect PrP in blood.

The BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) is funding a study on the effect of CJD on neurons (the cells of the brain and spinal cord). This study is using a new automated microscope technique to count cells (normal vs damaged) in the brain and to construct three-dimensional brain images from MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans.

The study will compare their results to those of other studies that have looked at nerve cells using immunocytochemistry techniques (studying cellular chemistry using antibodies as chemical reagents) and confocal laser microscopy (a technique for obtaining high-resolution 3-d images). They're also going to compare their findings with the symptoms that doctors see when they examine patients, and they're going to classify those symptoms by whether the CJD simply appeared in the patient (sporadic), whether the CJD seems to be an inherited illness (familial), or whether the CJD was acquired because of something a doctor or a medical treatment did to the patient (iatrogenic). The results will provide new information on the disease mechanisms and patterns of nervous tissue loss in CJD. This should provide a better understanding of the potential influence of BSE on humans. Further information on the National CJD Surveillance Unit can be obtained from:

The National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit
Western General Hospital, Crewe Road
Edinburgh, EH4 2XU
Clinical Office Telephone: 0131 537 2128
Pathology Telephone: 0131 537 1980
Fax: 0131 343 1404

Website: www.cjd.ed.ac.uk.

Brain Donations

In the last 10 years or so there has been very considerable progress in identifying a number of different diseases of the brain, which mimic AD by presenting as dementia in middle and later life. Since these may have different causes and therefore treatments, it is very important to define them carefully and this can only be done by examination of the brain after death.

How can you help?

We are tremendously grateful to patients and their families for the donation of the brain after death. These brain donations allow us to match the pathology findings against genetic and protein abnormalities, which may be the cause or which may influence the progress of the illness. In addition the tissue can be used to map the distribution of previously unknown proteins, the product of newly discovered genes active in the nervous system. We maintain a bank of brain tissue, which is made available to researchers who are undertaking ethically approved and scientifically important research projects on dementing illnesses. In the current climate of public dismay since the Alderhay inquiry was published, we are anxious to ensure that families understand the benefits of brain donations and have the opportunity of making this gift. Perhaps the best known current example of progress in this field is the discovery of variant CJD. This would not have been possible if brains had not been donated.

Contact: Professor Jeanne Bell
Department of Neuropathology
Western General Hospital, Crewe Road
Edinburgh EH4 2XU
Phone: 0131 537 1955
E-mail:jeanne.bell@ed.ac.uk

Centre for Research on Families and Relationships

The Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) has been funded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. Our focus is on families and relationships, acknowledging the diversity of ways in which families are created and maintained, and the importance of wider networks of kin and friends who form the basis of our personal lives.

The Centre acts as a focal point for a network of research producers and users that includes representatives from policy-making organisations, voluntary sector groups and agencies. It also supports researchers involved in studies of families and relationships, and brings them together with the consortium institutions and others.

Dr. Heather Wilkinson, Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Research on Families and Relationships
University of Edinburgh
23 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9NB
Tel 0131 651 1832 Fax 0131 651 1833
E-mail: h.wilkinson@ed.ac.uk
Website: www.crfr.ac.uk

ESRC Dementia Research and Care Seminar Group

The Dementia Research and Care seminar group is co-ordinated by a core group of key researchers from Scotland, England and Wales. The core group is responsible for the formation and development of a national group of up to fifty people, from a variety of academic disciplines and service provision. This national group takes part in a series of six seminars.

The aim of the seminars is to create a network of interested people in the field of dementia, including paid carers, family carers, and people with dementia, and facilitate an on-going discussion of current key issues in dementia, with communication across different disciplines and sectors, ensuring the representation of people with dementia at local and national levels.

A further aim of the seminars is to co-ordinate sharing of research findings and policy initiatives in a way that highlights the need for inclusive practices and joint working. The seminars should encourage the presentation of research findings in terminology that is user-friendly and jargon-free, emphasising the practical benefits.

Current projects

1. New perspectives on dementia: issues of social well-being for people with dementia and their carers

2. Developing best practice for supporting people with learning disabilities with dementia to stay in their own homes and communities. (With CARE)

3. Risk construction and management in dementia care: developing models to promote partnership and prevent inappropriate service provision. (With Prof Charlotte Clarke, University of Northumbria and Dr John Keady, University of Wales, Bangor)

4. Investigation into the current volume and models of specialist diagnostic and assessment service provision in Scotland. (with Prof Charlotte Clarke, Northumbria University)

5. Older people with learning disabilities and dementia: an exploration of best practice in the UK and US.

6. Supporting people to age in the most appropriate setting: best practice in provision for people with a learning disability that develop dementia. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)

7. Collaborative learning on methodologies and findings around delayed discharge of older people from hospital. (SHERT)

8. Research on Carer participation in policy and decision-making. (Carers Scotland)

Contact: Doctor Heather Wilkinson
Centre for Research on Families and Relationships – see above.

The Scottish Dementia Network

The Scottish Dementia Network (SDN) is an interactive forum established to promote dementia research in Scotland. SDN is funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and is co-ordinated by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Edinburgh.

Dundee Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre

Research in AD requires a comprehensive multi-disciplinary approach, as individual aspects of the disease cannot be taken in isolation. A workshop held in Dundee in 1999 entitled ‘Alzheimer’s research – bridging the gap between medical and social research’ emphasised the need for a more multi-disciplinary approach.

Research into AD in Dundee is coordinated by a research administrator, funded by the Alzheimer Research Trust, who serves to keep all researchers informed of progress in key areas in AD research. There are a number of projects in Dundee that involve collaboration between people involved in different areas of research.

Current research

Dr Kieran Breen’s research focuses on the biochemical events that occur in the brain in people with AD. By gaining a greater understanding of the brain biochemistry, he hopes to identify early events in the development of the disease. This will ultimately provide a target for early therapeutic intervention.

1. Research with the Biomedical Research Centre
The Dundee Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre has recently started a project in collaboration with the Biomedical Research Centre, which has expertise in specific areas of cancer research, and is now applying this knowledge to AD. While the cause(s) of AD remain unknown, it is likely that a number of factors acting in tandem are involved in its onset. When chemicals enter the body, they are broken down and detoxified by specific agents called enzymes. In the brain, these are protective and act to minimise any harmful effects of toxic agents. Ultimately a greater understanding of the mechanism(s) of action of these enzymes may help to identify agents to stimulate the actions of these enzymes.

2. Project on long and short term memory
People with AD lose their short-term memory while retaining memories from their childhood or early adulthood. These memories are very important to them and Dr Norman Alm at the Department of Applied Computing, at University of Dundee, and Dr Arlene Astell, a psychologist at the University of Abertay, Dundee are working on a collaborative project to develop a multi-media computer package that uses reminiscence as a means of supporting satisfying communication.

How can you help?

For some of these studies the centre may require small samples of body fluids such as blood. These are extremely useful in correlating biochemical changes with clinical assessment and play an important role in ongoing studies such as the one in the Biomedical Research Centre. This would usually be carried out during a visit to the clinic and full details and a consent form will be provided.

Contact: Dr Kieran Breen
Co-ordinator
Dundee Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre
Department of Psychiatry
Ninewells Hospital & Medical School
Dundee DD1 9SY
01382 632522
Email: k.c.breen@dundee.ac.uk
Website: www.dundee.ac.uk/alzheimer

Applied Computing Division

The Applied Computing Division at Dundee University is investigating ways in which existing and emerging computer technology can offer assistance and support to people with dementia. Plans are now underway to create a research institute at Dundee University (the Queen Mother Research Centre) specifically for developing computer applications for older people. The CIRCA Project (Computer Interactive Reminiscence Conversation Aid) is one such project.

For inquiries about the planned research centre, contact:
Prof. Alan F. Newell,
Division of Applied Computing, Dundee University, Dundee DD1 4HN,
Tel: 01382 344144
E-mail: afn@computing.dundee.ac.uk
Contact: Dr Norman Alm, Senior Lecturer
Division of Applied Computing, University of Dundee, see above
E-mail: nalm@computing.dundee.ac.uk
Tel: 01382 345596

MemoJog

The MemoJog project harnesses currently available technologies to produce a memory aid for the user. MemoJog uses Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) as a device to show reminders to the user. Using mobile phone technology to connect the PDA to the Internet, a carer can enter reminders for the user from any computer with a modem: the user can also send acknowledgements of a reminder received and acted on. A successful implementation of this kind of technology may have the potential to enable many more people with memory difficulties to remain independent for longer.

Contact : Dr Peter Gregor,
Division of Applied Computing, University of Dundee, see above
Tel: 01382 344152
Email: pgregor@computing.dundee.ac.uk

Computer vision applications

Investigating the use of computer vision technology to monitor an older person in their home: the major aim is to automatically and unobtrusively detect falls, but the technology could support other monitoring. A drama-based methodology is being used to investigate the requirements of people who would use this technology in their homes, and how far such monitoring is acceptable. Foxtrot Theatre is collaborating with this project.

Contact: Dr Stephen McKenna,
Division of Applied Computing, University of Dundee, see above
Tel: 01382 344732
E-mail: stephen@computing.dundee.ac.uk

Glasgow University and Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley

Research is being carried out by Dr Kerry Kilborn of Diagnostic Potentials in Clydebank and Dr Alan Hughes in Paisley on how to diagnose Alzheimer's disease earlier and accurately. They are looking at detailed measurements of electrical brainwaves if the person has suspected or definite memory problems. This technique is used while the person carries out simple memory tasks and involves them sitting with what looks like a glorified hairnet on their head while the tasks are displayed on a screen. This is a combination of computerised cognitive tests and high resolution EEG, with an automated analysis and clinical report. This technology is comfortable, safe, and produces results quickly.

Preliminary work with staff and volunteers has shown this to be an easy and not unpleasant task. Early work with this technique has shown promise in helping to diagnose whether a person is developing dementia, and if so, what type of dementia. For the time being it is very much a research tool and cannot provide answers to individual people, although it is hoped that in future it will prove of considerable benefit in understanding and diagnosing dementia.

Diagnostic Potentials develops integrated software technology for the diagnosis and management of CNS (Central Nervous System) disorders such as dementia. The company is currently developing a new product to aid in the early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The company was founded in 1999 as a spin-out from Glasgow University, and is supported by the Technology Transfer division of the Wellcome Trust, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire, the Scottish Executive, and private investors.

Contact:
Dr. Kerry Kilborn
0141 951 3455
E-mail: mail@diagnostic-potentials.com
or
Dr. Alan Hughes
0141 580 4932
E-mail: alan.hughes@doctors.org.uk

University of Stirling

Many staff in the Department of Applied Social science are currently undertaking research into different aspects of dementia services. These include staff in the Dementia Services Development Centre, which also has a major role in disseminating research findings.

1. Service provision for people with dementia and their carers in remote and rural areas
Service provision for people with dementia and their carers in remote and rural area of Scotland in two phases: service providers and users and carers. (Anthea Innes and Sylvia Cox)

2. During and after transition to institutional care
Exploring perceptions of quality of life of frail older people during and after their transition to institutional care. (Sue Tester)

3. Evaluation of smart home technologies initiative
Monitoring use of smart home technologies in South Ayrshire (the Home Comforts project sponsored by South Ayrshire Council) and evaluating costs and impact on staff, service users, and carers. (Alison Bowes and Gill McColgan)

4. Opening Doors for Older People
Evaluation of “Opening Doors for Older People”, which is a housing with technology option for older people in West Lothian. Funded by West Lothian Council. (Alison Bowes and Gill McColgan)

5. Expert group on alcohol related brain damage
Co-ordination of expert group on alcohol related brain damage and production of a literature review. (Sylvia Cox)

6. Availability of specialist respite/short break services
Research into the availability of specialist respite/short break services for people with dementia and their carers, with a focus on best practice models of provision. (Charlie Murphy)

7. Needs of older lesbians with dementia
Exploring residential care and other needs of older lesbians with dementia. (Carole Archibald)

8. Communication and consultation with people with dementia
A literature review of current thinking and practice around consultation with people with dementia. (Kate Allan)

9. The arts and people with dementia
Evaluation of projects that linked artists with people with dementia in different settings. (John Killick)

10. Deafness and dementia
A study of this issue jointly with East of Scotland Society for the Deaf. (Kate Allan)

11. Awaiting discharge
An action research project into the needs of people with dementia in acute hospitals awaiting discharge. (Carole Archibald)

12. Eliciting users’ views
Eliciting users’ views in NHS service delivery and organisation research. Guidance for researchers seeking to elicit the views of service users. This guidance focuses on ways of including service users throughout the research process, particularly those groups that are typically under-represented, such as older people, people with dementia, people with learning disabilities, people from minority ethnic groups, mental health service users, people with sensory/physical impairment and young people; ethical issues; the strengths and weaknesses of a range of research methods; and the dissemination of findings. (Anthea Innes)

Contact: Dr Anthea Innes
Department of Applied Social Science
Room 4B48, Cottrell Building
University of Stirling
FK9 4LA
Phone:01786 467695
Fax: 01786 466299
E-mail: appsoc1@stir.ac.uk

Alzheimer Scotland has a Research Fund. The money donated allows Alzheimer Scotland to fund specific research projects. Although the amounts have not been large we have supported studies into:

• training materials developed from the 'Hearing the Voice of People with Dementia Project'
• the management of the finances of nursing and residential home residents
• brain electrical activity of people with dementia through language tests
• methods of gathering data from solicitors on legal interventions used by people with dementia
• guidelines to facilitate the involvement of lay carers in the care planning of the person with dementia in hospital
• predicting responses to donepezil
• needs of people with dementia who are dying
• nursing care of people with dementia in acute care
• pupillary response to tropicamide
• carers' attitudes to and need for respite care.

There is also an evaluation study of day care approaching completion and an evaluation of carer education about to commence.

The priorities for funding future research are the gaps in our knowledge about services for people with dementia and their carers and models for the future provision of services. This will help Alzheimer Scotland to be more specific about the recommendations for future services, which are included in Planning Signposts for Dementia Care Services.

How can you help?

To help Alzheimer Scotland fund more research studies please send your donations to:

Alzheimer Scotland (Research Fund)
22 Drumsheugh Gardens
Edinburgh EH3 7RN

Alternatively, visit the donations section of this website.

Other relevant organisations outwith Scotland

Alzheimer’s Research Trust (ART)

This charity funds research into Alzheimer's and related conditions, including vascular dementia and dementia with Lewy Bodies. It gives a wide range of grants including Major Programme grants, PhD Studentships, Research Equipment, Network Cooperation grants, Emergency Support grants, Pilot Project grants and Research and Clinical Fellowships.

Current support in Scotland is as follows:

• Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Stirling all participate in the Alzheimer's Research Trust Network, which aids effective links between the leading UK research groups.
• An Aberdeen project is hoping to identify types of people who are most likely to develop Alzheimer's disease so that future methods of preventing the disease or delaying its onset can be used before the brain is damaged.
• An Edinburgh project is helping to find an accurate way of measuring the progression of Alzheimer's - important so that treatments can be developed and validated.
• A Dundee project is studying how brain cells communicate and what specifically goes wrong during the development and progression of Alzheimer’s.
• ART's Carter Research Fellowship is currently held in Edinburgh and Dr Joyce Yau is examining how a newly discovered enzyme activity in the brain changes with ageing.
• A Pilot project in Aberdeen is studying the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and depression in old age on emotional processing.
• The Trust is funding PhDs in Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews, encouraging bright young scientists to enter dementia research.
• Equipment grants are being funded in Aberdeen and St Andrews.

Livanos House, Granhams Rd.
Cambridge, CB2 5LQ
Phone: (01223) 843899
Fax: (01223) 843325

E-mail:enquiries@alzheimers-research.org.uk
Website: www.alzheimers-research.org.uk

Alzheimer's Society - Quality Research in Dementia

Quality Research in Dementia (QRD) is the award winning research grants programme of the Alzheimer's Society.

Focusing on improving quality of life, the QRD programme concentrates on three key areas of research - cause, cure and care. QRD actively involves people with dementia and their carers in setting the research agenda, awarding grants and assessing outcomes.

Quality Research in Dementia influences the direction of basic scientific research, care practice, health and social policy for the benefit of people with dementia and their families.

Their research covers the effectiveness of drugs, therapies and care practices, and the health and social impact of dementia on carers and the community at large. The programme also funds and evaluates research on the basic science of dementias and contributes to the long-term search for prevention, treatments and cure.

For more information contact:
Alzheimer's Society
Box 16
Institute of Neurology
Queen Square
London
WC1N 3BG

Tel: 020 7829 8776
Fax: 0870 132 0292
E-mail: research@alzheimers.org.uk

Research links

Dementia Services Development Centre:
www.dementia.stir.ac.uk/

Alzheimer Research Forum:
www.alzforum.org

British Medical Journal:
www.bmj.com/
- you can sign up for weekly email alerts from a list of subject areas.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation:
www.jrf.org.uk/
- has an archive of research findings.

The Lancet:
www.thelancet.com/

Scottish Executive Central Research Unit:
www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/

Alzheimer's Disease International:
www.alz.co.uk/

Oxford Dementia Centre:
www.brookes.ac.uk/dementia

NeuroConsult: a one-stop information resource in clinical neurology:
www.neuroconsult.co.uk/

This information sheet was produced as part of the Dementia Carers Project, funded by the Scottish Executive under the Carers’ Strategy for Scotland.

Current Scottish research (pdf, 13 pages - 225kb)

Large print and audio versions of Alzheimer Scotland information