A non-invasive potential treatment for Alzheimer’s has been used safely on older brains, researchers from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) have confirmed.
Scientists from QBI and the School of Biomedical Sciences are now initiating a clinical study of patients with sleep apnoea to determine whether treatment lowers the risk of developing dementia.
Finding a cure for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s is challenging. They’re difficult to diagnose, and drugs struggle to get into the brain as the brain’s blood supply is largely separate to the rest of the body.
QBI researchers have found that general anaesthetics act on the brain in a more complex way than previously thought. The discovery could lead to improved drugs for surgery.
QBI has been very successful in the 2017 rounds of research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC).
Research into brain development and schizophrenia has led to international acclaim for Professor John McGrath AM, recipient of Denmark’s Strömgren Medal.