Dementia centre aims for breakthroughs
Queensland’s Centre for Ageing Dementia Research (CADR) director, Professor Jürgen Götz, asks: “Did you know there are 280,000 Australians living with dementia?” Without a significant medical breakthrough, he says numbers are expected to soar to almost one million by 2050.
Queensland’s Centre for Ageing Dementia Research (CADR) director, Professor Jürgen Götz, asks: “Did you know there are 280,000 Australians living with dementia?”
Without a significant medical breakthrough, he says numbers are expected to soar to almost one million by 2050.
The Goetz Laboratory has identified several key mechanisms associated with dementia, which has led to the establishment of CADR within the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), at the University of Queensland.
The centre, which launched early this year, will specifically address ageing dementia related questions, complementing the ongoing activities at QBI into understanding physiological brain function.
CADR is expected to grow to five independent research groups within the next three years, and its three major long-term goals during this time include:
- To develop non-pharmaceutical strategies to prevent or delay the onset of ageing dementia
- To develop more sensitive and accurate diagnostic tools; and
- To develop novel pharmaceutical therapies to prevent or delay the onset of ageing dementia.
The establishment of CADR by QBI reportedly represents an effort to forestall the enormous economic and social burden this will place on society.
QBI director, Professor Perry Barlett, says: “While the research focus of the centre is varied, it includes development of new therapies that regulate cell death and cellular regeneration within the adult brain.
“This new centre will conduct research into how innate brain mechanisms could be used to treat the increasingly urgent problem of disease relating to the ageing brain,” he adds.
Professor Götz commenced his role with CADR this month, and has made many significant discoveries in the area of neurodegenerative disorders.
“We are hopeful we will not only prevent and delay disease onset, but also reverse cognitive decline,” Professor Götz says.
