Alzheimer's £30m research collaboration begins

A new network of £30m research centres is being launched to spearhead the search for an Alzheimer's cure.

Alzheimer's Research UK has announced a Drug Discovery Alliance, which will see research centres pooling their expertise to fight the disease.

These drug discovery institutes will be at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and University College London.

Dementia affects more than 830,000 people in the UK and costs the economy £23bn a year, the charity says.

The Drug Discovery Institutes will see about 90 new research scientists, recruited over the next five years, employed in state-of-the-art facilities to fast-track the development of new treatments for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

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Dementia hits women hardest

Women are bearing the brunt of the dementia epidemic that is spreading through Britain. A study by Alzheimer’s Research UK reveals that the condition has not only become the leading cause of death among British women but that women are far more likely to end up as carers of sufferers than men – suffering physical and emotional stress and job losses in the process.

“Women are carrying the responsibility of care for their loved ones, only later to be living with the condition,” states the report, entitled Women and Dementia: A Marginalised Majority. “Women are dying from dementia but not before it has taken a considerable toll on minds and bodies. In the UK, dementia hits women the hardest.”

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Alzheimer’s breakthrough: scientists home in on molecule which halts development of disease

Cambridge scientists raise prospect of new generation of treatments after finding technique to limit development of biggest cause of dementia.

Scientists have found a method which could potentially stop the growth of Alzheimer’s disease in its tracks, raising the prospect of a wave of new treatments for the condition.

A team at Cambridge University, working with partners in Sweden and Estonia, has identified a molecule which can block the progress of Alzheimer’s at a crucial stage in its development.

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Primary school pupils make 'Dementia Friends'

A Sale primary school has pledged to become the first in Trafford to make all of its pupils ‘Dementia Friends’.

Woodheys Primary School has joined forces with the Alzheimer’s Society and Public Health England in calling on schools across Greater Manchester to create a dementia friendly generation.

A Dementia Friend is someone who has gained a basic understanding about what is like to have dementia and the ways they can support someone living with the condition.

Deputy headteacher Ian Johnson said: “As a school social inclusion and being a part of the community is very important to us.

“We want all pupils to learn that all members of society should be respected, understood and supported to live well.”

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What they don’t tell you about dementia

My mum doesn’t know who I am. Sadly, I don’t mean that in an angsty way – she literally has no idea who I am. Sometimes I’m her sister. Sometimes I’m her dead mother. Once I was Shirley Bassey, which made for an interesting evening. My mum was diagnosed with dementia with Lewy bodies three years ago, when she was 64 and I was 30. She’d just retired, and we were looking forward to spending more time together.

I’d spent my 20s doing my own thing, having selfishly assumed that we’d have lots of time to get to know each other properly when I got bored of clubbing. I was wrong. Instead of visiting coffee shops, we ended up visiting the memory clinic. After months of appointments we were finally sent home with a diagnosis, an information leaflet and a six-month review booked in to see how we were getting on. I imagine it’s a bit like going home with a newborn baby, but with less support and no balloons. Having previously struggled to even take care of a houseplant, I was fairly apprehensive at the prospect of becoming a carer.

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