Launch of the Dementias Platform UK

Dementias Platform UK: A powerhouse for dementia research

CCBS is playing a major role in a ground-breaking, multimillion pound collaboration between industry and academia, set up by the Medical Research Council.

CCBS Professors Cathie Sudlow and Craig Ritchie are joining researchers from Universities across the UK and six companies in the Dementias Platform UK (DPUK), which has a funding base of £53million.

The aims of the DPUK are to:

• Get a better understanding who is at risk of developing dementia and why the progression of the disease varies from person to person
• Explore the anatomy of the disease to help develop new medicines and enable more accurate diagnosis
• Look into how existing drugs which are used to treat other conditions might help to treat the progression of dementia and improve symptoms

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Using health and lifestyle information from over two million people over the age of 50, as well as data from the lab, the DPUK will focus on improving early detection, treatment and ultimately the prevention of dementias. The Platform will create the world’s largest study group for use in dementia research. It will allow researchers to examine dementia in a whole new way, investigating not just what is going wrong in the brain, but at the brain in the context of the whole body. The Platform will look at the causes of dementia across a range of neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease.

The Dementias Platform UK is the culmination of years of dedicated work undertaken by the Medical Research Council, to identify and tackle the problems facing dementia research. Talking to scientists, it became clear that a new way of researching the disease was needed – a collaborative approach that took advantage of the wealth of population studies in the UK. I think people will look back on the creation of the Platform as a watershed moment in the study of dementias, holding the key to accelerating treatments and ultimately prevention of the disease.

Professor Hugh Perry