Published on April 21, 2004 at 6:00 AM
The Alzheimer's Society is to receive a grant of more than £200,000 from the Community Fund for stem cell research into potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
The grant of £227,461, awarded to the Alzheimer's Society in partnership with the Alzheimer's Research Trust, will fund a three-year research project to use stem cells to deliver to the brain a compound that promotes cell growth.
Stem cell research has been highlighted as a top priority by members of the Society's Quality Research in Dementia programme. The research will be led by Dr Janet Carter, senior lecturer in old age psychiatry at University College London, and will be monitored by members of the Society’s QRD network.
As stem cell research into dementia is still at an early stage the work supported by the Community Fund will be carried out using animal models of Alzheimer's disease. If this research project is successful it will probably lead to further animal trials. Trials of this technique in people with Alzheimer’s are still quite far off.