SRBF Front Page	DEMENTIA RESEARCH Group
Associated Research Group Ageing and Cognition	The Dementia Research Group works on identifying key molecular pathological changes that underpin the cause and progression of neurodegenerative diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Motor Neurone Disease. We are also interested in discovering biochemical markers for these diseases in blood that might help with clinical diagnosis of illness, chart the progression of disease, and ultimately act as reference molecules to test the efficacy of therapies aimed at preventing or slowing brain degeneration. We collaborate extensively with other local, national and international laboratories particularly in the identification and assessment of genetic risk factors for disease. Clinical studies. The Group collects blood samples for extraction of DNA for genetic analysis, and for separation of plasma for the biomarker identification programme. Through our brain tissue donation programme, we collect brains at post mortem from patients with neurodegenerative diseases, and from other elderly but normal individuals for tissue based research. These brain tissues are stored within the Manchester Brain Bank, supported by the ‘Brains for Dementia Research’ (BDR) Initiative, funded jointly by Alzheimers Research Trust and Alzheimers Society through the charity Alzheimers Brain Bank UK Ltd. These tissues not only underpin the molecular pathological and genetic work of our Group, but are also available to requesting researchers for collaborative research projects. Method Development Fundamental aspects of our work involve immunohistochemistry and microscopic observation and image analysis of cellular changes in normal and pathological tissues. We have expertise in ELISA-based methodologies for detection and quantification of proteins in blood and plasma, and in sophisticated high throughput genetic analysis for the identification of novel genetic risk factors. Selected References Follow link
Laboratory Staff & Students David Mann Yvonne Davidson Linda Gibbons Osamu Yokota Quan Hu