Growing Old is Mandatory, Growing Up is A Choice

We all know that our brains change as we get older: some age-related changes are helpful, but others make us more susceptible to age-related brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. Picking apart the thousands of changes happening in our brains with age is thus an incredibly complicated task. To start untangling this problem, my lab studies an animal with a relatively simple brain and a fast rate of ageing – the common fruit fly! Join us for a pint of science to hear what flies are telling us about brain ageing and how we might be able to slow down detrimental changes to one day prevent disease.

Dementia and neurodegeneration are leading causes of death for elderly in the UK. Their most common form is Alzheimer’s disease. To better understand Alzheimer's disease, many labs will experiment with mouse models, where one popular neurodegeneration model of which is the prion mouse model. I am collaborating with a group that specialises in making anti-neurodegeneration drugs. The problem here is that it is hard to tell how well your treatment is working without having to harm the animal. As part of a physics group, we think we have a solution for non-invasively detecting neurodegeneration.