Scientists are using living human brain tissue to study Alzheimer's on their hunt for a cure - and experts are expecting a breakthrough
The team from the University of Edinburgh used the healthy brain tissue from living NHS patients and exposed it to a protein linked to Alzheimer's, from patients who passed away from it.
In a stunning scientific leap, researchers unlocked a rare chance to watch dementia take hold in human brain cells and experts believe this game-changing method could fast-track drug testing and crank up the odds of finally finding a cure.
The study involved using tiny fragments of healthy brain tissue from cancer patients while they underwent routine surgery to remove tumours at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Once the pieces were collected, they were put into glass bottles with oxygenated artificial spinal fluid and taken into labs where they were sliced into thin pieces, less than a third of a millimetre thick and were kept in incubators to replicate the body temperature.
Scientists then took the deadly amyloid beta straight from the brains of Alzheimer's victims and unleashed it on healthy brain tissue in the lab and watched as the disease developed.
It was found that the brain did not try to repair the damage caused by the toxic protein, and even small changes were enough to disrupt brain cells.
This will help scientists in their race to find a cure to the disease, and according to the leader of the experiment, it is bringing the scientific community 'one step closer' to finding a cure for it.
Dr Claire Durrant said: 'We believe this tool could help accelerate findings from the lab into patients, bringing us one step closer to a world free from the heartbreak of dementia.
'These findings are a testament to the incredible support of my funders and the hard work of my team members Dr Robert McGeachan and Dr Soraya Meftah, who led on the experiments.'
Sir Jackie Stewart OBE, founder of Race Against Dementia, which has supported Dr Durrant's laboratory since 2019 said: 'It's a horrendous reality that as things stand, one in three people born today, will die with dementia.
'Someone develops dementia every three seconds – and we still don't have a cure. I created Race Against Dementia to challenge this awful disease in the fullest sense.
'Our collaboration across industries allows us to think more keenly and faster, and the breakthrough that we have achieved shows what is possible when science moves faster, with new tools and fresh thinking.
'Our unique program is enabling us to test potential treatments which are bringing us closer to a world without dementia. I am sure that for you, like me, that cannot happen soon enough.'
Professor Tara Spires-Jones, Group Leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh said: 'This important work by Dr Durrant's team brings a new tool to scientists' toolbox to better understand Alzheimer's disease and how to treat it.
'The use of living human tissue samples generously donated by people undergoing surgery to remove brain tumours allows scientists to probe how living human brain reacts to toxic proteins produced in Alzheimer's, and in future will allow testing of whether new treatments are effective in human brain.
'This cutting-edge study is an example of how the UK Dementia Research Institute is at the forefront of global efforts to understand and treat Alzheimer's.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Trans doctor 'tried to mislead' tribunal over phone notes on Sandie Peggie
A trans doctor was trying to 'mislead' the landmark Sandie Peggie tribunal, it has been told. Phone notes made by female-identifying Dr Beth Upton following a dispute with the nurse had been edited, it was claimed. Ms Peggie was suspended from work at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, after she objected to the trans medic using the female changing area on Christmas Eve 2023. The 51-year-old has since launched an employment tribunal against NHS Fife and Dr Beth Upton. Yesterday it heard that NHS Fife did not commission a forensic or in-person check of Dr Upton's phone in May 2025. The health board's security analyst 'did not have a technical answer' for discrepancies on dates on Google Notes made by Dr Upton, the hearing was told. And IT expert Jim Borwick agreed with the suggestion the trans doctor 'was trying to mislead' the tribunal. Mr Borwick, director of KJB Computer Forensics Consultancy, had been commissioned by Ms Peggie's representatives to compile a report in to the notes. Mr Borwick wrote, 'Dr Upton is silent on fact that Notes can be rearranged with relative ease', and that he was 'perplexed' and 'at a loss' as to how the discrepancies had occurred, and was told 'notes did not include patient care allegations Dr Upton made about Ms Peggie'. One note from December 18, 2023, logged: 'Working nights, won't make eye contact, won't acknowledge my presence, haven't had direct conversation but can feel the dismissal/hostility.' But the tribunal heard it was edited on December 26 at 1.21am. Mr Borwick told the hearing: 'In addition to text on that date, this had been added so it is not contemporaneous.' Jane Russell, KC, for NHS Fife and Dr Upton, asked: 'When you said Dr Upton is silent on fact that notes can be re-arranged, you're suggesting that Dr Upton is trying to mislead the tribunal?' The IT expert told her: 'I suppose that's my comment, yes.' Ms Russell asked Mr Borwick if he had been instructed to come up with an 'explanation that there were lies on the part of Dr Upton' and to 'undermine Dr Upton's account of patient care allegations'. But the witness told her he was not 'trying to undermine anything', and added: 'I was told to recover notes about patient care allegations; no reason was given, just to recover those notes.' Ms Russell said in one screenshot, 'the conundrum is that the edited date predates the created date', and asked the witness if 'the only explanation for discrepancy is that Dr Upton is lying about creation dates?'. He said he could not recreate this, and nor could NHS Fife's information security manager Peter Donaldson. The tribunal heard a note entitled 'weird incident 26.08.23' was timestamped showing it was created on October 26, 2023, according to Google. Mr Donaldson told the tribunal: 'I don't believe Dr Upton was trying to mislead us in any way. 'I completely agree this is how Google presents; on the face of it the October date is the earliest date. I don't dispute that. The notes supplementary to that are the same.'
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
NHS strike chaos threatens to spread as paramedics REJECT pay offer on first day of doctors' walkout
NHS strikes threatened to spread yesterday as paramedics in the GMB union voted to reject their annual pay offer. It came as a five-day walkout by hospital resident doctors began over pay, led by the British Medical Association union. NHS chiefs said the health service was still 'open for business'. But ambulance crews and other NHS staff in the GMB union yesterday voted 67 per cent in favour of rejecting their 3.6 per cent offer for this year's pay rise. Paramedics joined nursing strikes in the winter of 2022-23 and could vote to do so again if they cannot get a better offer from Health Secretary Wes Streeting. National Secretary Rachel Harrison said: 'We have written to Wes Streeting, asking him to meet with us to discuss pay and other issues.' The Royal College of Nursing is also angry at getting a lower wage rise than doctors — and hospital consultants with the BMA are also considering striking again. As resident doctors, formerly called junior doctors, kicked off their strike to demand for a 29 per cent pay rise over the 5.4 per cent offer, Mr Streeting warned he could not guarantee patient safety. He said: 'I'm really proud of the way that NHS leaders and frontline staff have mobilised to minimise the disruption and the risk of harm to patients. 'What I can't do is guarantee there will be none. That's why the BMA's action is so irresponsible.' The BMA has made one exception for its strike so far. It allowed resident doctors to be called in to cover neo-natal intensive care at Nottingham City Hospital to protect newborn babies' lives. Strike leader Dr Melissa Ryan, who works there, said: 'We don't have enough senior staff to cover the doctors that aren't there. "It is important to us that those very sick babies get a lot of care.'
Leader Live
3 hours ago
- Leader Live
Streeting: We are doing everything we can to minimise patient harm during strike
A five-day walkout by resident doctors in England is under way, with members of the British Medical Association (BMA) manning picket lines across the country. The Health Secretary condemned the strike as 'reckless' and said the Government would not allow the BMA to 'hold the country to ransom'. Asked about the risk of patient harm during a visit to NHS England HQ in London, he told the PA news agency on Friday: 'I'm really proud of the way that NHS leaders and frontline staff have prepared and mobilised to minimise the disruption and minimise the risk of harm to patients. 'We've seen an extraordinary response, including people cancelling their leave, turning up for work, and resident doctors themselves ignoring their union to be there for patients. I'm extremely grateful to all of them. 'What I can't do today is guarantee that there will be no disruption and that there is no risk of harm to patients. 'We are doing everything we can to minimise it, but the risk is there, and that is why the BMA's action is so irresponsible. 'They had a 28.9% pay award from this Government in our first year, there was also an offer to work with them on other things that affect resident doctors – working lives – and that's why I think this is such reckless action. 'This Government will not allow the BMA to hold the country to ransom, and we will continue to make progress on NHS improvement, as we've done in our first year.' Asked about next steps and the continued threat of doctor strikes, given the BMA has a six-month mandate to call more industrial action, Mr Streeting said: 'When the BMA asks, 'what's the difference between a Labour government and a Conservative government?', I would say a 28.9% pay rise and a willingness to work together to improve the working conditions and lives of doctors. 'That is why the public and other NHS staff cannot understand why the BMA have chosen to embark on this totally unnecessary, reckless strike action.' It comes as NHS chief executive Sir Jim Mackey told broadcasters on Friday about his different approach to managing the strike, including keeping as much pre-planned care going as possible rather than just focusing on emergency care. 'So the difference this time is the NHS has put a huge effort in to try and get back on its feet,' he said at NHS England HQ in London. 'As everybody's been aware, we've had a really tough period, and you really feel colleagues on the ground, local clinical leaders, clinical operational colleagues etc, really pulling together to try and get the NHS back on its feet. 'And we also learned from the last few rounds of industrial action that harm to patients and disruption to patients was much broader than the original definitions. So we've decided to say it needs to be a broader definition. We can't just focus on that small subset of care. 'Colleagues in the service have tried to keep as much going as humanly possible as well, and the early signs are that that's been achieved so far, but it is early doors. 'In the end, capacity will have to be constrained by the numbers of people we've actually got who do just turn up for work, and what that means in terms of safe provision, because the thing that colleagues won't compromise is safety in the actual delivery. But it does look like people have really heard that. 'They're really pulling together to maximise the range of services possible.' Asked about further strikes, he said: 'It is possible. I would hope not. I would hope after this, we'll be able to get people in a room and resolve the issue. 'But if we are in this with a six month mandate, we could be doing this once a month for the next next six months, but we've got to organise ourselves accordingly.' Asked why he was not willing to bump pay from what the BMA calculates is £18 an hour to £22 per hour, Mr Streeting told broadcasters: 'I think the public can see, and other NHS staff can see the willingness this Government showed from day one coming into office to try and deal with what had been over a decade of failure on behalf of the previous government, working with resident doctors to improve their pay and to improve the NHS. 'That's why resident doctors had a 28.9% pay award, and that's why the disruption they are inflicting on the country is so unnecessary and so irresponsible.' Mr Streeting said 'we know there'll be real challenges over the next five days'. He added that patients, particularly those who end up waiting a long time for care due to strikes, 'do come to harm, and however much the BMA try and sugarcoat it, what they are fundamentally doing today is forgetting the three words that should be at the forefront of every doctor's minds every day, which is, 'do no harm'.' On whether strikes are going to become the 'new normal', he added: 'As I've said before, the BMA have had a 28.9% pay award from this Government, and we were willing to go further to help on some of the working conditions that doctors face. 'That offer of joint working, that partnership approach, that hasn't gone away, but it does take two to tango, and I hope that the BMA will reflect very carefully on the disruption they are inflicting on patients, the pressures they're putting on their colleagues, and the circumstances in which they are doing so – a 28.9% pay rise and a government that was willing to work with them. 'Those are not grounds for strike action.' It comes after Sir Keir Starmer made a last-minute appeal to resident doctors, saying the strikes would 'cause real damage'. He added: 'Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage… 'These strikes threaten to turn back the clock on progress we have made in rebuilding the NHS over the last year, choking off the recovery.' The BMA has argued that real-terms pay has fallen by around 20% since 2008, and is pushing for full 'pay restoration'. The union took out national newspaper adverts on Friday, saying it wanted to 'make clear that while a newly qualified doctor's assistant is taking home over £24 per hour, a newly qualified doctor with years of medical school experience is on just £18.62 per hour'. BMA council chairman Dr Tom Dolphin told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the union had been expecting more pay for doctors. He said: 'Where we were last year when we started the pay campaign, we were down a third on our pay compared to 2008. 'So you've got last year's pay offer which did indeed move us towards (pay restoration), but Wes Streeting himself said that pay restoration is a journey, not an event, implying that there would be further pay restoration to come, and we were expecting our pay to be restored in full – that's our campaign's goal. 'We got part way there, but then that came to a halt this year – we've only had an offer that brings us up, just to catch up with inflation.' Asked what it would take for doctors to go back to work, he said the BMA needed to see 'a clear, guaranteed pathway' to pay restoration. He added that 'it's very disappointing to see a Labour Government taking such a hard line against trade unions'. Elsewhere, the Nottingham City Hospital – where Dr Melissa Ryan, co-chairwoman of the BMA's resident doctors' committee works in paediatrics – reached an agreement with the BMA to exempt one doctor from the strike to work on the neonatal intensive care unit. Speaking from a London picket line, Dr Ryan told The Times: 'I do know that we've granted a derogation already. It is actually at my work, with the babies on one of the neonatal units I work on. That is because it is an intensive care unit for babies. 'We don't have enough senior staff to cover the doctors that aren't there, the residents. And actually, it is important to us that those very sick babies get a lot of care. So we have granted a resident doctor to go back.' The BMA said it had also agreed a derogation for two anaesthetists to work at University Hospital Lewisham on Saturday to ensure patient safety. Louise Stead, group chief executive of Ashford and St Peter's and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trusts, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that around 500 appointments were being rescheduled 'but we are continuing to do about 96% of the work we've had planned'.
