Researchers at Lancaster University have been awarded £40,000 by the UK’s leading dementia research charity, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. Their exciting work aims to develop a potential new treatment for Alzheimer’s.

The team, led by Prof David Allsop, have a molecule that shows promise as a treatment in the laboratory and now are investigating its potential to help Alzheimer’s patients.

Prof Allsop, who is a Professor of Neuroscience at Lancaster University, explained: “In Alzheimer’s, toxic proteins build up in the brain. We have found a way of stopping this build up in the test tube. We need to find out if we can do the same job in the brain, and protect nerve cells from damage.

“There are no effective treatments for Alzheimer’s at the moment, so we need to investigate every potential avenue we can”.

Harriet Millward, Deputy Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust said,

“There is an urgent need for new treatments for Alzheimer’s, and how fast we get them depends on the investment in research. This research is in the early stages, but we hope it will be successful.

“There are nearly 15,000 people in Lancashire with dementia and this number is expected to double within a generation. We need to fund much more research if we are going to defeat this devastating disease.

“We wish Prof Allsop and his team all the best with this exciting new work.”