Dementia Research Charity Chatathon

All about Frontotemporal dementia

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Episode notes

On the 7th September 2020, Adam Smith hosted the Dementia Research Chatathon LIVE - to share information on the wide variety of research taking place across the world, and the raise money for Alzheimer's Research UK. Please continue to donate and help Adam meet his £5,000 target - details can be found at http://www.chatathon.uk.

In a way that everyone can understand, this video features Adam talking with:

Imogen Swift Research Assistant, UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL. Imogen is involved in developing novel fluid biomarkers for frontotemporal dementia (FTD). With a particular focus on developing CSF and blood-based markers for genetic FTD caused by GRN mutations. Imogen works within the Fluid Biomarker team at the Dementia Research Institute with Dr Amanda Heslegrave and the FTD UCL team at the Dementia Research Centre with Jon Rohrer. She is also involved in managing the biobank for a number of dementia studies including GENFI which involves coordinating sample collection from 27 sites across the world - @immy_swift

Dr Lucy Russell Research Fellow, Dementia Research Centre, University College London. Lucy works with Dr Rohrer on a project called GENFI that aims to follow individuals with a genetic form of FTD. Her current role is to act as the FTD Prevention Initiative (FPI) co-ordinator, working with GENFI and other large cohort studies across the world as well as pharmaceutical companies and consortium groups to get as many clinical trials up and running as soon as possible. Additionally Lucy is involved in recruiting individuals to the one (and only) FTD trial currently running in the UK. Her specific interests and PhD looked at social interactions with individuals with Dementia, as well as trying to developing novel eye-tracking tasks that are more sensitive to change earlier in the disease course than what current assessments currently are able to do.

Dr Martina Bocchetta Senior Research Fellow, Dementia Research Centre, UCL. With funding from Alzheimer's Society, Martina investigates the changes that occur in the brain in the genetic forms of FTD. Using different neuroimaging techniques to measure these changes on MRIs, hoping to identify markers of disease onset and progression to be used in clinical trials - @bocchettaM

Mica Clarke PhD Candidate, University College London. Mica is investigating new ways to track the progression of disease in FTD. She is using a type of brain imaging to do this called PET imaging (positron emission tomography), which allows us to look at certain proteins in the brain via brain scans that might be involved in the disease process - @mtmclarke

Dr Aitana Sogorb Esteve Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL Atina is looking for novel biomarkers and biomarker panels to diagnose the different aspects of FTD - @aitanasogorb