The ARUK Research Conference 2022 took place from the 28th February - 2nd March in Brighton.
"The Alzheimer’s Research UK Conference provides a fantastic chance to gain insights from colleagues working across basic, translational and clinical dementia research." - ARUK webpageIan and Doug attended ARUK 2022, with both presenting 'Chronic Pharmacological Inhibition of Glymphatic Function Exacerbates Propagation of Tau Pathology in an Animal Model'; Doug as a poster, and Ian as a presentation. This showed Ian and Doug's work on the tau transgenic mice (dementia model), some of which had been treated with our Aquaporin-4 inhibitor drug, which limits glymphatic flow. Some of the data included whole-brain fluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and behavioural studies. This was the first opportunity our group has had to share this data and was also the first in-person conference attended since the pandemic.
Ian's thoughts:
This was the first face-to-face meeting after the pandemic so was very strange at first but really makes you realise the importance of face-to-face interactions at these sort of meetings. My talk and Doug's poster seemed to work well as a duo, as the talk got people excited about the work and Doug had some really great discussions with people at his poster as a result. Also, was so nice to be back in person as through the socials is where the potential collaborations are forged (over a beer!). As a result we had some really interesting discussions with the DDI off the back of that meeting, and had a meeting in my diary for a few weeks time where I'll be discussing a possible collaborative grant application with some ULC and Imperial colleagues and the role of sleep and glymphatics (watch this space...I hope!).
Doug's best bits:
Prof Alexei Verkhratsky (University of Manchester) giving his views and highlights on glial physiology and pathophysiology in the brain during aging and disease.
Prof Anne Marie Minihane (University of East Anglia) presenting evidence of epidemiological studies on diets and dementia risk.
We were a highlight! - Beth Eyre
Beth Eyre is a third year PhD student at the University of Sheffield who looks at neurovascular coupling in mixed Alzheimer's disease and atherosclerosis models. Whilst taking part in a Dementia Researcher podcast, Beth shares her interest in our work and included us as one of her ARUK highlights - Thanks Beth! Sophie was particularly excited to hear this as she has been a keen follower of Beth's Instagram (@bethsbrainbites) for quite some time.
"So, my favourite talk was from yesterday, and it was from Dr. Ian Harrison, and he was talking about glymphatics and tau... And I remember reading Ian’s paper actually, and I bumped him, and I overheard him talking about the work and I was like, “Oh, that’s you, I read that paper and I really enjoyed that.”" - Beth Eyre for Dementia Researcher PodcastTo hear more about what Beth says about our research, or listen to the full podcast, click the button below.
Ian's Interviews/Podcasts
Ian took part in a Dementia Researcher podcast and VJ Dementia interview whilst at ARUK 2022. Click on the links below to see these posts.