CURE MAGA JAN26 DOUBLE PG-LINKS - Flipbook - Page 6
“THE SOONER WE
SPOT DEMENTIA,
THE SOONER WE
CAN HELP.”
As one of the nation’s leading
neuroscientists and an Alzheimer’s
Research UK Ambassador, Selina also
reflects on progress in recent years,
the next steps science could take, and
why dementia research is always,
ultimately, about the people we love.
Q. Much of your work looks at the
very start of dementia-causing
diseases. Why is that so important?
Prof Selina Wray
Professor Selina Wray has spent
her career asking one of the most
important questions in dementia
research: how do these diseases
begin?
At University College London’s Queen
Square Institute of Neurology, she’s
leading on work that will solve that
puzzle. By studying the very first
changes that happen in our brain cells.
And by doing so, Selina aims to reveal
the best place, and the best moment,
to intervene with new treatments.
06
A. When I first started, I was studying
post-mortem brain tissue donated by
people who had died with dementia.
It's still a really valuable approach, but
it means you’re looking at the very last
stage of these diseases.
And for treatments to be most
effective, we need them to act as early
as possible – not when the brain’s
already badly damaged. It’s why I’m
really interested in stem cells. They let
us see what happens at the beginning,
when brain cells are first affected.
Thanks to some amazing technological
advances, we can now take a small
skin sample from a volunteer,
