Dementia Research Centre
Queen Square, London
Clinical studies
We conduct a number of clinical studies including:
Longitudinal study of Familial Alzheimer's Disease
The Dementia Research Centre has been conducting a longitudinal study into familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) for over ten years. FAD is a rare form of Alzheimer's disease, generally affecting individuals below the age of 60, which results in offspring of affected parents having a 50% chance of developing the disease themselves. Individuals with a history of early-onset FAD undergo annual neurological, imaging and neuropsychological assessments. As these subjects are assessed prior to the onset of any symptoms, this provides invaluable information on the earliest signs of the disease. Also, by tracking individuals over long time periods, this gives us an insight into how the disease progresses. It is hoped that this work will improve our ability to diagnose the disease earlier, as well as track disease progression and assess any impact new therapies might be having on the degenerative process. A number of publications have already been produced as a result of this study.
Longitudinal study of Frontotemporal Dementia
Collectively the FTD group of diseases are the second commonest cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease, however they have been less well studied and remain less well understood. Many sufferers are of working age, creating a substantial additional burden for families and society at large. This is a five year longitudinal study (commenced 2004) with annual neurological and neuropsychological assessments and detailed MRI brain scans of patients and at-risk groups, as well as healthy control volunteers. The objective of the study is to identify reliable measures of disease onset and progression in people affected with frontotemporal dementia (e.g. Pick's disease) and those at risk of developing hereditary forms of frontotemporal dementia. This work directly addresses an important clinical problem in the diagnosis of this group of dementia diseases, which specifically affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain (the areas controlling behaviour, planning and reasoning, language and memory).
Neurogrid
This project is funded by the Medical Research Council for three years from March 2005 and brings together clinical and technological experience from multiple collaborators. The aim of the NeuroGrid consortium is to enhance collaboration between clinical, imaging and e-scientists to create a Grid-based network of neuroimaging centres and a neuroimaging tool-kit. It is hoped that sharing data, experience and expertise will aid us in improving how we process and interpret MRI scans, particularly when these are performed at a number of different sites. This is vital for large-scale clinical trials which often involve collaboration between international imaging centres. The DRC is helping to coordinate the Dementia aspect of this project which involves four sites across the country. We are following patients with memory problems using a number of measures including serial MRI brain scans. Through this work we are helping to develop automated real time analysis of MRI data using an online 'QA Box'. Image data acquired during this project will also be used to test Grid-based services such as the neuroimaging toolkit
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