UK embarks on largest ever Alzheimer’s gene study

Cardiff University, Wales and Wellcome Trust, the UK’s largest medical research charity have embarked on a project to scan the entire human genome in search of genes that pre-dispose people to, or protect them from developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

The team led by Professor Julie Williams will use a technique known as ‘genome-wide association scanning’ to analyse DNA samples taken from 14,000 people – 6,000 with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and 8,000 healthy ‘control’ samples from the UK and US.

It is very likely that they will find some unexpected associations as certain genes are involved in more than one form of dementia and that even genes that affect cholesterol levels can be a risk factor for Alzheimer’s.

For further information on this project  – Craig Brierly, Wellcome Trust

For even more amazing information, support, comments and latest advances in the field of Alzheimer’s disease, please visit my fellow b5 science and health channel bloggers Mary Emma Allen and Liz Lewis at Alzheimer’s Notes www.alzheimersnotes.com - they are awesome!

Elaine Warburton