Catch-up on recordings from the Salon Research Showcase

Why do some people with genetic risk go on to experience cognitive decline while others remain resilient. How does genetic vulnerability shape pathways to later life cognitive impairment and dementia.

This livestream is part of the Dementia Researcher weekly Showcase series. Each week we host a 45 minute online session bringing researchers together to share their work, methods, and ideas.

In this session, Dr Donald Lyall, Senior Lecturer in Population Brain Health at the University of Glasgow, will present research on the role of APOE genotype in later life cognitive impairment and dementia. Donald’s work uses population health and epidemiological approaches to understand how genetic risk interacts with lifestyle and environmental factors to influence brain health and cognitive outcomes. He has extensive experience analysing large cohort datasets to uncover mediators and modifiers of cognitive decline, with a particular focus on how APOE affects vulnerability in ageing populations.

Donald will explore whether possession of specific APOE variants increases susceptibility to cognitive impairment, and what intermediate phenotypes may mediate these associations, shedding light on mechanisms that link genetic risk with cognitive health outcomes.
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How can connection, identity, and wellbeing be supported for people living with advanced dementia within culturally diverse communities. What does meaningful engagement look like when communication changes and when care moves online.

In this session, Nancy Brown will explore how culturally adapted non pharmacological interventions can support immigrant communities of older adults living with advanced dementia. Drawing on her PhD research at the University of Edinburgh and more than two decades of practice in therapeutic memory care, she will share how music, movement, personal objects, and Validation based communication were adapted for online delivery during the COVID period.

These virtual sessions revealed unexpected moments of connection, relational awareness, and joy, challenging assumptions about engagement in later stage dementia. Nancy will also reflect on her career journey as a practitioner researcher and the importance of empathy, co creation, and cultural sensitivity in dementia research and care.
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Inflammation plays a central role in many neurological conditions, yet the immune system in the brain behaves very differently from the rest of the body. Understanding how these responses are regulated, and how they can be influenced with precision, is an active area of research.

In this session, Dr Kate Harris from Newcastle University will discuss her research on brain inflammation, focusing on cell based screening and target deconvolution as tools for identifying new ways to modulate immune responses. She will explore how these approaches help reveal subtle immune behaviours and why controlling inflammation requires nuance rather than broad suppression.

Attendees can expect a clear overview of phenotype driven discovery, insight into how immune targets are identified, and time for questions and discussion.
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Why do some people experience greater cognitive change as they age while others remain relatively stable. How can brain imaging help us distinguish normal ageing from processes linked to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

This livestream is part of the Dementia Researcher weekly Showcase series. Each week we host a 45 minute online session bringing researchers together to share their work, methods, and ideas.

In this session, Dr Jenna Merenstein will present her research at the University of Utah, which uses MRI measures of brain structure and function to study cognitive ageing across the adult lifespan. Her work focuses on cognitively healthy adults to help define patterns of normal brain ageing and understand how these differ from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Jenna will also introduce a newer direction in her research exploring moderating factors that may influence brain and cognitive ageing, including environmental exposures such as air pollution, access to greenspace, and noise exposure.
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Dementia research often focuses on memory and cognition, but there is increasing recognition that changes in behaviour and mental state can be among the earliest markers of neurodegenerative disease.

This Salon Research Showcase session brings together researchers and the public for a 45 minute online session to explore current work on behavioural and psychological symptoms in people living with, or at risk of, dementia.

In this session, Dr Byron Creese, Senior Lecturer at Brunel University of London, will discuss his research on managing behavioural and psychological symptoms in neurodegenerative conditions and how these symptoms might help with early diagnosis. Drawing on clinical and translational research, he will outline key findings on neuropsychiatric syndromes, emerging methods to detect subtle changes, and the implications for care and future research directions.
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Why do some people develop Alzheimer’s disease while others with similar backgrounds do not. How do genetics interact with environment and social factors to shape individual risk. This session tackles these questions by looking at dementia risk as a whole system rather than a single cause.

This livestream is part of the Dementia Researcher weekly Showcase series. Each week we host a 45 minute online session that brings researchers together to share their work, ideas, and approaches.

In this session, Shea Andrews will introduce his research programme at UCSF, which integrates genetic, environmental, and social risk factors to develop dementia risk assessment tools for personalised medicine in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. He will focus on genetic exposome approaches, showing how combining large scale genetic data with real world exposure information can improve how we predict risk, understand disease mechanisms, and tailor prevention strategies.

Shea is an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Francisco, specialising in genetics and genomics. Attendees can expect a clear and research focused talk that bridges population science and personalised medicine, with time for questions and discussion at the end.
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Dementia prevention is often framed as a matter of individual lifestyle choice. This session steps back and asks what prevention looks like when we think at population level, not just personal risk.

This livestream is part of the Dementia Researcher weekly 'Showcase' series. Each week we host a 45 minute online session that brings researchers together to share work.

In this session, Simone Salemme will explore how dementia prevention can move beyond individual level interventions towards population based approaches rooted in equity, data, and public policy. Drawing on Italian and European initiatives, he will discuss how prevention can be embedded within national and EU non communicable disease strategies to support brain health across the life course.

Simone is a PhD Fellow and early career researcher at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Attendees can expect a clear overview of current evidence, policy links, and practical challenges, with time for questions and discussion.

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Apathy is one of the most common symptoms in dementia and one of the least well understood. This session asks a simple question. What is really going on when people stop acting.

This livestream is part of the Dementia Researcher weekly 'Showcase' series. Each week we host a 45 minute online session that brings researchers together to share work.

In this session, Rebecca Williams will focus on apathy in dementia, with particular attention to frontotemporal lobar degeneration. She will introduce a different way of thinking about apathy, not as a simple lack of motivation, but as a loss of confidence in the outcomes of action. Drawing on her PhD research, she will explain how this shift in thinking, alongside computational modelling, is helping to generate new insights into causes and potential approaches to treatment.

Rebecca @beckyandthebrain is a PhD student specialising in dementia research at the MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge. Attendees can expect a clear and accessible talk, grounded in current research, with time for questions and discussion at the end.
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