UCL academics awarded Alzheimer’s Society fellowships

Dr Sarah James, Dr Aida Suarez-Gonzalez, Dr Charlie Arber, and Dr Yazead Buhidma are among 17 early career researchers to have been awarded over £5m in funding towards dementia research.

The awards provided by the society aim to support a comprehensive range of dementia research, determining personalised risk and understanding the individual experiences of people living with the neurodegenerative disease.

Dr Sarah James (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science) has been awarded a Dementia Research Leader Fellowship to understand why women have a higher risk of developing dementia. She will use causal inference epidemiological tools to understand what might be causing the increased risk, with a focus on midlife, when women undergo major hormonal changes during menopause and when women tend to experience more health problems.

Dr James said: “I am thrilled to receive this fellowship from Alzheimer’s Society. I am passionate about understanding how experiences across the life course shape brain health and dementia risk, and this fellowship will enable us to better understand why women face a higher lifetime risk of dementia. This research would not be possible without the commitment of research participants and people affected by dementia, whose contributions underpin everything we do.

“I am excited to build on UCL’s collaborative research environment, bringing together expertise from epidemiology, neuroscience, women’s health, and public involvement to improve dementia prevention and brain health. I am also looking forward to supporting and mentoring the next generation of dementia researchers and contributing to the vibrant, interdisciplinary research community that makes UCL such an exciting place to work.”

Dr Aida Suarez-Gonzalez (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) has been awarded almost £550,000 to support the testing of an intervention designed to reduce the impact of cognitive disability in people with atypical forms of Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. She will work with clinicians, researchers, and people living with these conditions to investigate symptom-specific strategies to help them maintain daily function and improve their quality of life.

Dr Suarez-Gonzalez said: “The field of cognitive interventions for people living with these forms of dementia has been under researched, leaving therapeutic potential untapped. This fellowship is a step toward changing that. I’m truly thrilled and deeply grateful to the Alzheimer’s Society for its visionary support and for the confidence it has placed in my ability to drive this work forward.”

Dr Charlie Arber (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) is investigating the role of ITM2B – a gene that regulates brain amyloid processing – to understand if it is a key driver in Alzheimer’s pathology, as well as a rare form of familiar dementia. ITM2B is highly expressed in microglia and has a role in disease-associated microglial responses. Dr Arber will generate ITM2B reporter lines to monitor how ITM2B impacts microglial cells. He will also examine ITM2B in patient blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples, to determine whether it could be used as a biomarker and indicate disease progression.

Dr Arber said: “I’m so excited to start this work, and be supported by Alzheimer’s Society. I really believe that studying rare dementias can teach us how to detect and fight the disease more widely. My goal is to make a positive impact to the lives of those affected by dementia.”

Dr Yazead Buhidma (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) is working to identify how astrocytes (star-shaped cells found in the brain and spine) contribute to frontotemporal dementia and determine how astrocyte dysfunction affects other cells in the brain. His research aims to characterise disease-associated astrocyte populations and generate models to investigate the biological pathways disrupted in disease. These models will determine how these changes affect neuronal health and function, and may suggest possible therapeutic targets.

Dr Buhidma said: “I am delighted and honoured to receive this fellowship from Alzheimer’s Society. This award reflects an important evolution in dementia research, recognising that understanding the earliest disease processes requires us to look beyond neurons and investigate the wider cellular environment of the brain. I am grateful for Alzheimer’s Society’s commitment to supporting innovative research that could transform our understanding of these diseases.”

This latest cohort joins an existing body of over 400 researchers supported across the UK.

Dr Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “We've seen extraordinary progress in dementia research in the last decade. Breakthroughs like these are only seen when we ensure talented researchers can stay in dementia research. We are delighted to continue to build momentum in the field by investing in future leaders.”

Links

• Dr Sarah James's research profile
• Dr Aida Suarez-Gonzalez's research profile
• Dr Charlie Arber's research profile
• Dr Yazead Buhidma's research profile
• UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science
• UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
• UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences
• UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences
• Investing in the future of dementia research with over £5m awarded to early career researchers

Media Contact

Ben Norris

b.norris [at] ucl.ac.uk 
+44 (0) 7502 739680