Vascular Dementia researchers receive £0.8M to develop treatment approaches

15 Jun 2017

Collaborative research project will combine expertise from five leading UK universities

Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences have received joint funding from the Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation and Alzheimer’s Society to carry out collaborative research working with the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cambridge and Oxford to further advance the care and treatment of Vascular Dementia.

The research project, “Disintegration of the cerebrovascular matrisome: a central mechanisms leading to small vessel disease and vascular cognitive impairment”, will be led by Dr Tao Wang (Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences) and Professor Stuart Allan (Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology) at the Manchester site, focusing on interrogating the stem cell model of the disease.

Dr Wang explains: “Although cerebral small vessel disease is a major cause of stroke and vascular dementia, there are few treatments available. This is not helped by the lack of understanding of disease mechanisms.

“It is anticipated that by combining the expertise from the five universities, our research programme will develop new disease models that can be used to increase understanding of what causes small vessel disease (SVD), clarify how SVD affects brain function, develop possible treatment approaches and provide a platform for future studies to screen potential new SVD drugs.”

The funding for the project was formally announced by the Stroke Association at their 2017 Keynote Lecture in London, where the keynote address was delivered by Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell.