Our achievements

The Alzheimer's Research Trust has funded over 150 research projects to make real progress towards ways to cure, prevent or treat dementia. Our main achievements so far include:

• Helping the diagnosis of Alzheimer's to become more accurate - many scientists agree that improving early detection of Alzheimer's will help current and future treatments to be more effective. Our Clinical Research Fellow in Edinburgh showed that a reading test could help doctors to diagnose Alzheimer's. (April 2003, Neurology, McGurn et al, Alzheimer's Research Trust/William Lindsey Clinical Research Fellowship.)
• Showing that a drug prescribed to dementia patients accelerates cognitive decline - having major implications for treatment and helping scientists to understand more about Alzheimer's. Our study involved scientists in Newcastle, Oxford and London (March 2005, BMJ, Ballard et al, Alzheimer's Research Trust major programme grant).
• Finding a DNA link to Lewy Body disease and Parkinson's disease - helping scientists to identify routes to potential treatments. Our scientists in Newcastle found that in these diseases, the 'batteries' (mitochondria) in the brain lose their power more quickly. Scientists can now investigate whether it is possible to prevent this battery failure killing brain cells and slow or prevent the onset of the diseases. (April 2006, Nature Genetics, Turnbull et al, Alzheimer's Research Trust major programme grant).
• Screening 1.5 million compounds to identify 40 that offer the greatest potential to be developed into drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's. Using high-tech computers, scientists in Bristol are continuing their exciting work by making tiny changes to the structures of each of the 40 remaining candidates which could lead to effective drug treatments. (Dawbarn et al, Alzheimer's Research Trust major programme grant).
• Identifying markers in the blood for the development of Alzheimer's for the first time - offering hope of a possible blood test to diagnose the disease. This research was based at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. (Nov 2006, Brain, Hye et al, 129 (Pt11): 3042-50; Alzheimer's Research Trust major programme grant).

The Alzheimer's Research Trust is now placed among the top 30 medical and health related UK charities (2006).

Each project funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust brings us a step closer to solving dementia. We are finding more of the right jigsaw pieces and fitting them together to fight dementia.