Dementias Platform UK

02/02/2026

Here's a really useful guide to dementia published in the Daily Mail on Saturday. It is in conjunction with the Alzheimer's Society.

Read Prof Vanessa Raymont's excellent guide to early signs of dementia which are so important to getting an early diagnosis and managing the disease. She is one of our leading scientists at DPUK. Her READ-OUT programme is trying to find the most effective tests the NHS can adopt to make it easier for everyone to get a diagnosis.
https://zurl.co/BWukH

Gill Livingston, a professor of psychiatry of older people at University College London says: 'Alcohol is a toxin that can affect memory and raise your dementia risk.'

28/01/2026

On World Lewy Body Dementia Day, we are celebrating the work of our Neuroimmunology team, led by Professor John O'Brien at Cambridge University. They are driven to better understanding the disease itself and ways to better manage it. Sadly, it is often misdiagnosed, and research is needed to help clinicians to manage it and its unique characteristics.

Our scientists are exploring inflammatory and immune changes in people with early dementia with Lewy bodies and early Alzheimer’s disease. Their IMPRINT study, using blood samples and CSF, has recruited over 200 participants and completed 18-month follow-ups for nearly 100 people. A second study, IMPACT, is using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to investigate the role of brain inflammation in Dementia with Lewy bodies. https://zurl.co/EhBs5

22/01/2026

The latest biomarker study to translate promising studies into real-world validated tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease was announced this week. It aims to help identify blood or digital tests that could help predict the presence of amyloid plaques or tau tangles in the brain, which are the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

It is hoped that a simple finger-prick test could be enough to diagnose Alzheimer’s with sufficient accuracy for clinicians to use routinely. The study, led in the UK by Life Arc will involve 1,000 volunteers aged over 60 in the UK, US and Canada.

The new study reflects the growing excitement about the use of blood biomarkers in diagnosis to achieve diagnosis at scale and reduce the cost and time taken for patient testing.

Professor Vanessa Raymont is leading Dementia Platform UK’s own blood biomarker study, READ-OUT. She welcomes the latest new trial.

“This study is an exciting opportunity for the comparison of very accessible markers with more validated markers such as PET imaging. This will definitely help us understand whether the blood biomarkers that look promising really do measure aspects of Alzheimer's disease in real world populations. It will add vital data alongside the Blood Biomarker Challenge funded READ-OUT study, which is looking at these, plus additional blood biomarkers in a UK memory clinic population.”

READ-OUT also focuses on easy-to-do tests, but for a range of dementias including Alzheimer’s, vascular, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia. It involves 3,200 participants as part of the Blood Biomarker Challenge funded through the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK including funding from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery. It will assess the best ways of obtaining samples and could lead to the health service using a number of tests taken from a blood sample alongside digital tests of cognition.
https://zurl.co/FvTvg

An international trial involving 1,000 volunteers will aim to detect biomarkers associated with the condition.

20/01/2026

Help DPUK's -Cog study? It's testing 2 treatments for & in people with memory problems caused by damaged blood vessels in the . Access the survey at , the PPIE site https://zurl.co/17YET. Anyone can complete it.

20/01/2026

Can you help DPUK's -Cog study by offering your comments on aspects of their planned trials?

The team at of Edinburgh is testing 2 treatments for vascular cognitive impairment and dementia in a group of people with memory problems caused by damaged blood vessels in the brain.

Access the questionnaire at the excellent PPIE site https://zurl.co/J7hwP.
(It's for anyone interested including family, friends, professionals or people affected personally by MCI or dementia).

You will help to shape the study ahead of its recruitment of participants for the trial itself. That is being done through 20 selected memory clinics around the UK.

LACI-Cog, ( Lacunar Intervention Trial – Cognition) will involve 300 people testing medicines that have previously been used in a study in stroke patients. and seem to be safe with few side effects.

LACI-Cog will be a clinical trial to test new treatments for adults with early or mild memory problems due to damaged blood vessels in the brain (called ‘vascular cognitive impairment’ or ‘vascular dementia’). These people will be invited to join the trial from memory clinics around ...

13/01/2026

We are looking for people to take a short survey online to find the best approach to supporting people taking an APOE4 test. You don't need to have a diagnosis. You could be a carer or work in research or the NHS. Read about the survey here: https://zurl.co/b104k

24/12/2025

🧠 Great Minds membership exceeds 13,500!
Our Great Minds Register now has over 13,500 highly characterised individuals available to join health studies and help researchers find answers.
This incredible community of volunteers is accelerating dementia research by:
🔬 Participating in clinical trials
📊 Contributing to observational studies
💡 Helping test new interventions
🎯 Making research more efficient and impactful
Every person who joins Great Minds brings us closer to breakthroughs in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Ready to make a difference? Join Great Minds today: https://zurl.co/wRfeO

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12/12/2025

Thanks Alex McCreadie and 499 others...He's the 500th participant in our -OUT study. The study's evaluating the accuracy of tests diagnosing dementia to use in the NHS, for the Blood Biomarker Challenge run by Alzheimer's Research UK & Alzheimer's Society. Recruited byReMind UK in Bath, one of 21 sites already operating. In 2026 there will be 10 more locations across the UK.

“Recruiting our 500th participant in our first year is terrific” says Prof Vanessa Raymont. “Our clinical sites in the NHS have done a great job in finding people willing to take part. It is an important study and we will ultimately have over 3,000 recruits drawn from diverse communities.”

Everyone taking part gives a blood sample and provides other information about their cognition. An additional study, run in parallel, will look at digital tests. The study aims to evaluate the accuracy of blood-based ‘biomarker’ tests for diagnosing dementia, as well as their effectiveness in diverse populations and their cost-effectiveness for the NHS.

The Blood Biomarker Challenge, a multi-million pound initiative led by Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research, and Gates Ventures, with £5m raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

09/12/2025

What next for GLP-1 receptor agonists and dementia?
Novo Nordisk's EVOKE trial didn't meet its primary endpoint - semaglutide didn't slow cognitive decline in people with early Alzheimer's. But the results revealed something intriguing: reductions in biomarkers of neurodegeneration, inflammation, and tau protein. The drug does something to Alzheimer's biology - the question is when to use it.

Dr Ivan Koychev of DPUK, Associate Professor in Neuropsychiatry at Imperial College London, highlights the real opportunity: "The most encouraging evidence for GLP-1 therapies comes from epidemiology, showing reduced dementia incidence in people using these drugs. That suggests a preventive signal rather than an effect in treating established disease."

In other words, EVOKE asked: can we slow decline once symptoms appear? Answer: no. But the more important question might be: can we prevent dementia before symptoms start? That remains wide open.
As Ivan notes: "Science moves forward when we learn from every result, positive or negative, and keeps our focus on what matters most: better, evidence-based options for patients and families."

This is why rigorous trials - even those that don't meet their endpoints - are essential. They refine our hypotheses, clarify where to focus next, and remind us that timing of intervention may be as crucial as the intervention itself.

Worth a read 👇 https://zurl.co/ZFZpM

Novo Nordisk A/S left open the door for additional work on its pill version of Ozempic for Alzheimer’s disease after a pair of failed trials, saying that patients showed a biological response in a handful of areas despite getting no cognitive improvement.

21/11/2025

💙 Poor heart health in middle age linked to dementia in old age – new study

A groundbreaking 25-year study of nearly 6,000 adults has revealed an important connection between heart health in midlife and dementia risk decades later.

Key findings from the Whitehall study:

🔬 People with elevated cardiac troponin I levels in middle age were 38% more likely to develop dementia later in life

📊 For every doubling of troponin, dementia risk rose by 10%

🧠 Higher midlife troponin levels were associated with smaller grey-matter volume and hippocampal shrinkage – equivalent to approximately three extra years of brain ageing

The encouraging news? The 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia estimates that 17% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by improving cardiovascular health through managing blood pressure, cholesterol, physical activity and lifestyle factors.

This important research reinforces what we've long suspected: what's good for the heart is good for the brain. It also highlights the value of cardiovascular health monitoring in midlife as a potential early indicator for future cognitive wellbeing.

Read more: https://zurl.co/Lxtfo

A 25-year study reveals that silent heart damage in your 50s can predict dementia risk decades later.

05/11/2025

It is great to see our READ-OUT study and the leading the news programme Points West in the west of England. https://zurl.co/PcgLA
The Brain Centre at North Bristol NHS Trust and ReMind UK in Bath are participating in the study. It could revolutionise and make it easier, quicker and better to get a diagnosis.

The latest news, sport, weather and features from the West of England.

03/11/2025

How Childhood Shapes the Brain Decades Later: New Research from DPUK

We're pleased to share that Dr Delia Gheorghe's research has been published in Scientific Reports, revealing how early-life experiences can leave lasting imprints on brain structure.

Using DPUK's research infrastructure, Dr Gheorghe and colleagues analysed MRI data from 452 cognitively healthy older adults. The findings show that perceived excessive maternal control in childhood was linked to smaller volumes in reward-processing brain regions—measured more than 50 years later.

"This paper is one example of what we can do with the breadth of data available in DPUK. It's quite remarkable that we found associations between early-life aspects and brain structure measured more than 50 years later." — Dr Delia Gheorghe

The research has reached audiences beyond academia: Dr Gheorghe and Prof Sarah Bauermeister recently discussed the findings on Pro TV News in Romania (interview in Romanian), bringing dementia research insights to international communities.

This work is part of the Blossom Early Adversity & Brain Health Programme, led by Prof Bauermeister in collaboration with Morgane Künzi and Dr Nico Filippini. It demonstrates how DPUK resources support researchers in exploring complex questions about brain health across the lifespan.

👉 Read the full study: https://zurl.co/FLgmQ
👉 Romanian TV interview: https://zurl.co/QHi9d
👉 Learn more about DPUK resources: https://zurl.co/tTDlG