Our Dementia Research Leader Fellows
We are supporting 12 exceptional dementia researchers with our Dementia Research Leader Fellowship programme. Here we look at a selection of work in more detail.
2024/25 cohort
Dr Cara Croft - Understanding how tau builds up in the Alzheimer’s disease brain
Dr Cara Croft first began her career Alzheimer’s disease research in 2012 and is now a Senior Lecturer and Group Leader in Neuroscience at the Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London. Throughout her career, Cara has been fascinated by the brain, and the fact that there is still so much to learn about how it works.
It is devastating that 1 in 2 people will be affected by dementia at some point in their lives, and this is why it’s so important to understand what is going on when the diseases that cause dementia affect the brain. I feel it is one of the biggest problems facing humanity and needs urgent attention.
Dr Cara Croft
Dr Ian Harrison - Boosting tau clearance in the brain to treat diseases like Alzheimer’s disease
Dr Ian Harrison has been working in the field of Neuroscience for a number of years. In 2019, Ian started his own research group at University College London, focusing on investigating the intricate mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases.
My paternal grandfather had Alzheimer’s, and my maternal grandmother had Lewy body dementia. My aim is to make a difference to those living with these diseases and their loved ones. This has been the core aim of my research group at UCL, and something I hope we are achieving.
Dr Ian Harrison
Dr Devkee M. Vadukul - Discovering biomarkers for mixed dementia
Dr Devkee Vadukul has been researching amyloid since her PhD at the University of Sussex and is now establishing her group at Imperial College London. She now aims to solidify herself as a leader within protein aggregation research, specialising in mixed dementia.
I am heavily invested in understanding the causes of dementia and exploiting this understanding for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. While my research sits in the early stages of biomedical research, the potential to benefit the lives of people affected by dementia is always at the forefront of my research questions, particularly in a ‘bench-to-bedside’ context.
Dr Devkee Vadukul
What other research projects are we funding?
Here you can find out about a selection of the many research projects that we are funding. Discover more about our researchers' work and how it will impact people affected by dementia.
In diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, the tau protein forms small knots inside brain cells, which grow into larger tangles. Normally, the body clears out unnecessary tau, but in people with these diseases, it builds up and harms brain cells eventually causing the cells to die and the symptoms of dementia appear.
Cara's previous research shows that tau knots, which accumulate in the brain in patients with Alzheimer's disease, can unravel on their own, but very slowly.
Dr Cara Croft said,
"We know from previous research that tau links closely with brain cell death and the development of dementia symptoms. We hope that our research will help us to understand more about the tau protein and specifically how brain cells are able to clear it.
We then hope to use this information to develop new medicines."
Learn more about Cara's research.