Courtesy of Department of Chemistry
An interdisciplinary research team which includes Dr Steven Lee has been awarded an £850 thousand Allen Distinguished Investigator (ADI) grant for its project “Resolving white matter dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease with novel biosensors.”
The grants are for Alzheimer’s projects aimed at providing insights into the basic biological foundations of Alzheimer’s, with an emphasis on cell biology.
Dr Lee is a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on building new biophysical tools to study biomolecules primarily using single-molecule fluourescence techniques. The team of seven University of Cambridge researchers which received the award will use a combination of new imaging methods, biosensors and cutting-edge models to investigate the role of white matter in Alzheimer’s disease progression for the first time. As white matter lesions appear prior to symptom onset and can be monitored noninvasively by new MRI scanners, they may be an ideal biomarker and target for early treatment to block Alzheimer’s disease.
The Paul G Allen Family Foundation, which funds investigations seeking to fill gaps in research, knowledge and tools that may have a large scale impact, awarded grants to five teams of researchers with projects that will open new and innovative avenues of research in Alzheimer’s disease by uncovering its elusive biological roots. The projects are funded at a total of $7 million over three years.
The Principal investigator of the team is Dr Ragnhildur Thora Karadottir, a Wellcome Trust Career Development Research Fellow at the Wellcome Trust – MRC Stem Cell Institute and Department of Veterinary Medicine.
Other team members include: Elizabeth Hall, Professor of Analytical Biotechnology in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology; Guy Brown, Professor of Cellular Biochemistry; Carol Brayne, Professor of Public Health Medicine in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care; Maria Grazia Spillantini, Professor of Molecular Neurology in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences; and Michael Coleman, van Geest Professor of Neuroscience at the John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.