Alzheimer's Society Lewy Body Dementia DTN
Lead: Professor John-Paul Taylor, Newcastle University
Collaborating institutions: University College London, University of Exeter, University of Southampton, University of Nottingham, Newcastle University.
University of Nottingham LBD DTP leads: Dr Helen Miranda Knight and Dr Anto Rajamani.
Alzheimer’s Society Lewy Body Dementia DTN
There are two types of Lewy body dementia (LBD): dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia. Lewy body dementia is caused by Lewy body disease, where there is an abnormal build-up of proteins which form structures inside brain cells called ‘Lewy bodies’.
LBD can cause a wide range of symptoms that can be distressing. These include seeing things that are not there (visual hallucinations), depression, anxiety, delusions (fixed beliefs which are not true), episodes of confusion, sleep difficulties, slow movements, and falls. These symptoms can have a huge impact on people’s quality of life, as well as the lives of their families.
LBD is not well-understood and not widely researched. We also currently lack good ways to diagnose this type of dementia, and there are no treatments available. Unfortunately, the research community in this field is also small, and the researchers are not well connected, which slows down the progress towards breakthroughs.
The Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Lewy body dementia aims to bring together experts from UK’s world-leading LBD research centres. These experts will work together to tackle Lewy body dementia and train the next generation of researchers in this field.
The work of this Doctoral Training Centre will be all-encompassing. The researchers will be looking at understanding the causes of Lewy body dementia, as well as potential new treatment options in a laboratory-based setting. Importantly, the researchers will also focus on people who are currently living with, and are affected by, Lewy body dementia, by conducting community-based studies to improve care, and to find real-world solutions to the challenges people are facing now.
The Doctoral Training Centre will fund a total of 20 early career projects across eight years, which will focus on Lewy body dementia. Of these PhD studentships, five will be based primarily at the University of Nottingham but with travel and some studies at other LBD DTP universities.
