Dementia is the biggest health challenge of our century – currently affecting 50 million people worldwide, projected to triple by 2050, with huge financial, emotional and social impact on people directly affected, their carers, their families and the community.
Dementia is a symptom of several neurodegenerative disorders, with Alzheimer’s disease accounting for about 60% of cases. To date there is no way to prevent or even slow the rate of progression of neurodegeneration – there is still a major knowledge gap in our basic understanding of the diseases.
The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative supporting research to fill this gap. It is a globally-leading, multidisciplinary research institute of 800 researchers investigating the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders causing dementia, driving a step change in our understanding of neurodegeneration and accelerating the discovery, development and delivery of interventions which will help diagnose, treat and ultimately prevent dementia.
The organisation's laboratory-based research groups are based in centres at University College London, the University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, Edinburgh University, Imperial College London and King’s College London. This includes the Care Research and Technology research centre, based at Imperial College in close collaboration with the University of Surrey. At the centre a diverse team of doctors, engineers and scientists harness recent advances in artificial intelligence, engineering, robotics and sleep science to create new technologies which will deliver the highest quality dementia care in the home. This will support independent living to help people living with dementia and their caregivers.
Structure and funding
UK DRI has a unique structure – a distributed institute, where all researchers are connected, wherever their labs are based. Each University acts as the employer of the research staff and as host to the UK DRI. The researchers are members of UK DRI and come together for shared scientific inspiration while making the most of cutting-edge tools and infrastructure locally.
The Founding Funders of UK DRI are the Medical Research Council, Alzheimers Research UK and Alzheimers Society. UK DRI has also secured funding from other sources, including LifeArc and a range of commercial partners, and is looking to continue to diversify and grow its funding.
Future plans
Having recently been recognised by a panel of international experts and peers, which awarded it a score of "excellent" in its first major review, UK DRI has been awarded £150m over five years to continue its ground-breaking research. It will continue be a catalyst for discovery dementia research in the UK, unravelling the molecular and cellular mechanisms in the earliest stages of neurodegenerative disease, and laying the groundwork for life-changing treatments.
Find out more about the Institute's world-leading discovery science in a video here, and a brochure marking its first five years here. You can also read more about the impact of scientific research by UK DRI scientists on reducing health inequalities for people affected by dementia here.