Decoding Alzheimer’s

One person somewhere in the world is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease every three seconds. That means 28,800 more people each night will go to bed knowing they are now living with the disease. And through their association as close family and friends, at least another 300,000 others will also be affected. It’s hard to find anyone these days who isn’t impacted by Alzheimer’s in some way. When it’s you, it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed, helpless, and hopeless, which was exactly how I felt in 2006 when my own mum was diagnosed.

At the time, I knew very little about the disease. The more questions I asked the fewer answers I could find. Why was there no cure? Why were there no effective treatments to slow or stop its progression? Why did Mum get it in the first place? Why was the worldwide prevalence rising dramatically?

As both a daughter, first and foremost, but also as a scientist, it was devastating to know there was nothing I could do to save Mum except in my caring role to help improve her quality of life as the disease progressed. Eventually, this sense of helplessness drove me to change careers and  join the global Alzheimer’s scientific community to help find the answers to these questions.

I’m now collaborating with some of the world’s leading scientists, bringing my own unique background in physics and engineering to explore different approaches that might help our understanding of the biological mechanisms of Alzheimer’s. We hope this will some day help the Alzheimer’s research community to develop new intervention strategies to cure or prevent the disease. Well, that’s my dream, along with everyone else who is working in the field, or who has been touched by Alzheimer’s.

You can read about both my personal and research journey with Alzheimer’s through LETTING OFF STEAM – just look for the category #Decoding Alzheimer’s on the blog post, or come directly back to this page and see all my Alzheimer’s related blog posts below. And if you want to learn more about Alzheimer’s, including what it is and what the risk factors are, then head over to my website, Decoding Alzheimer’s.