Neurodegenerative Diseases & Stroke
Our group has a long track record of research in neurodegenerative diseases and stroke dating from the 1960s when seminal studies in Newcastle demonstrated Alzheimer’s disease as the main dementia in older people.
More recent work has focussed on dementia with Lewy bodies, dementia in Parkinson’s disease, dementia after stroke and vascular contributions to cognitive decline and depression in later life. Much of our work focusses on the longitudinal clinico-pathological study of patient cohorts both with and at risk of dementia, with serial clinical and imaging investigations together with correlative autopsy studies through the Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource.
We led the International Lewy body consortium in defining and validating clinical and pathological criteria for Lewy body dementia diagnosis and have validated new imaging biomarkers for diagnosis and undertaken seminal treatment studies for Lewy Body Dementia (LBD).
Our Newcastle NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Lewy Body Dementia started in April 2012 and aims to improve the early diagnosis of LBD and define and test new treatment targets. We are also undertaking a number of studies investigating intensive blood pressure modification as a novel therapeutic mechanism, and non-pharmacological approaches to improve gait and balance in Parkinson’s disease, and to enhance recovery after stroke.
Selected Projects
- A novel study investigating visual cortex function in Dementia with Lewy Bodies using transcranial magnetic stimulation and magnetic resonance imaging
Project Leader(s): Dr John-Paul Taylor - A Study of the clinical Utility, patient preference and cost benefit of SPECT and PET-CT brain imaging in the Evaluation and Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (SUSPECTED-AD)
Project Leader(s): Professor John T O'Brien - A trial to evaluate an extended rehabilitation service for stroke patients (EXTRAS)
Project Leader(s): Professor Helen Rodgers - Cognitive Function After Stroke (COGFAST) study
Project Leader(s): Professor Raj N Kalaria - Developing Movement Based Computer games for Parkinson’s: PD-Kinection
Project Leader(s): Professor Lynn Rochester - Development and feasibility evaluation of a repetitive functional task practice (RFTP) programme for upper limb recovery early after stroke.
Project Leader(s): Professor Helen Rodgers - Effects of intensive BP lowering on cerebral blood flow in older people with hypertension
Project Leader(s): Prof. Gary Ford - ICICLE-Gait
Project Leader(s): Professor Lynn Rochester - Incidence of Cognitive Impairment in Cohorts with Longitudinal Evaluation – Parkinson’s Disease (ICICLE-PD)
Project Leader(s): Professor David J Burn - Investigating attentional function and cognitive fluctuations in Lewy body disease: a functional magnetic imaging and electrophysiological study
Project Leader(s): Dr John-Paul Taylor - Multimorbidity in the ageing human brain - assessment by quantitative neuropathology
Project Leader(s): Dr. Johannes Attems - Non-invasive detection of disease processes in the brain in neurodegenerative diseases - The Sir Jules Thorn Imaging Study
Project Leader(s): Andrew Blamire - PRESERVE: How Intensively should we treat blood pressure in established small vessel disease?
Project Leader(s): Professor Gary Ford - Randomised trial of Blood pressure Rapid Intensive Lowering And Normal Treatment for Mood and Cognition in Persistent Depression (BRILiANT Mood Study)
Project Leader(s): Alan Thomas
