World’s largest brain study focuses on dementia

An estimated 100,000 participants are expected to get involved in a major effort to understand the pathology of dementia. Medical research institute UK Biobank is planning to image 9,000 cases of Alzheimer’s disease by 2022.

The study was announced May 19 in step with Alzheimer’s Awareness Week by Siemens Healthcare, providers of the MRI technology being used at the pilot scanning and repository facility in Cheadle, Stockport, U.K. Meanwhile, volunteers aged 44-77 have already been scanned and provided DNA and lifestyle histories since the research began at the beginning of the month.

Following the feasibility study, Biobank plans to open additional imaging centers in the region to capture as much data as possible, not just about brains, but other vital systems as well, including hearts and bone.

“Development of treatments to slow or stop dementia is the greatest healthcare challenge facing the developed world,” said Paul Matthews, MD, one of the leading experts who designed the study and head of the division of brain sciences at Imperial College, London. “New clues suggest that we need to broaden our research focus on the brain in the context of the whole body and the way it changes with age to find the triggers for Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.”

The pilot study is being funded by the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council in an effort to capture data from the earliest stages of disease and beyond to better understand the underpinnings of neurodegenerative disease.

“UK Biobank will provide an unrivalled resource for these studies with the addition of advanced brain and body imaging to its rich clinical, cognitive, soluble biomarker and genetic dataset,” adds Matthews. “This ambitious program promises to massively accelerate both public and private therapeutics research for dementia.”