Research Program Focuses on Early-Detection and PREVENT-ion of Dementia and Alzheimer’s
The Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College recently hosted the PREVENT General Assembly where 50 global experts in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease came together to discuss and present on research findings into the prevention and early-detection of these diseases.
From left to right: Katie Bridgeman (UK National Coordinator) and PREVENT Principal Investigators, Willie Stewart, John O’Brien, Brian Lawlor, Lorina Naci, Craig Ritchie and Sarah Gregory.
The meeting provided the opportunity to learn about the PREVENT-Dementia study its research objectives and achievements.
This large multi-center study brings together researchers from Trinity, led by GBHI faculty members Lorina Naci and Brian Lawlor, as well as Cambridge, Oxford, and Edinburgh universities, Imperial College London, and INSERM Neuroscience in France, and has the potential to enhance early detection, improve treatment, and ultimately prevent dementia.
Lorina Naci, GBHI faculty member and PREVENT Dublin co-lead said: "We were delighted to host the General Assembly of the PREVENT-Dementia program. This world-leading study is significantly advancing knowledge for identifying early individuals at high risk, understanding how and when to intervene to reduce risk, assisting with early diagnosis, knowing when treatments should best be given, and helping to develop novel treatments and interventions."
The Beginnings of PREVENT
The Global Brain Health Institute supported the initiation of the study in Dublin/Ireland in 2017 with a project grant of €250,000 to Naci and Lawlor. Since then, Naci has raised another €1,000,000 from competitive research funding to continue the PREVENT program in Dublin. In 2024, she received the HRB Individual Led Project award (€450,000) to continue this study to its eighth year in Trinity College Dublin and St James’s Hospital.
Since its inception in 2014, with funding from the Alzheimer’s Society of the UK, The PREVENT-Dementia program has raised significant funding for other studies focused on understanding the earliest manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease, including a study of amyloid and tau imaging, virtual reality assessments, eye, hearing and dental assessments and much more, from funders like the UK Medical Research Council, the US Alzheimer’s Association and industrial partners which equates to an additional £2.9 million.
PREVENT's Objectives
The PREVENT-Dementia study seeks to identify the earliest signs of dementia, which may occur in the brain decades before symptoms appear. By predicting who is most at risk, the study aims to intervene early and prevent the disease from taking hold. With dementia cases expected to increase from 46.8 million in 2015 to 131.5 million by 2050, this research is critical.
The early biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease that this study will develop will serve as essential prerequisites to future, population-wide early intervention programs, both pharmaceutical and environmental.
Collaborative Research
PREVENT Dublin is a part of a large multi-site collaboration in the UK and Ireland. The PREVENT project has raised awareness around dementia detection and prevention in Ireland through generating and distributing knowledge on state-of-the-art Alzheimer’s detection in mid-life via published research. The project continues to build the PREVENT Dublin dataset by continually assessing established preclinical biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in middle-aged persons at high risk of late-life AD, relative to persons at lower risk.
How Does the Research Work in Practice?
The PREVENT study has recruited and deeply phenotyped 700 participants aged 40-59 across the UK and Ireland. Core assessments include cognitive testing, neuropsychiatric evaluation, genetics, lifestyle risk factor analysis and multi-modal MRI Imaging, with samples of blood, urine, saliva and CSF collected. In Dublin, the first set of follow-up assessments are concluding with plans for many years to come. Across the five sites of the study, more than 700 participants are taking part, with over 7,000 cognitive tests and 1,400 MRI brain scans completed.
The PREVENT-Dementia program in Dublin provides an excellent research, training and education platform for Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health at GBHI and 15 Atlantic Fellows are already working with PREVENT.
From left to right: Adam Brass, Tavia Evans, Bolin Cao, Joaquin Migeot, Kwaku Sarfo Manu, Sita Shah, Ludka Kucikova, Olga Castenar, and Temitope Farombi at the Generał Assembly.
What Does the PREVENT Research Tell Us?
Recent PREVENT research indicates subtle changes in brain function or structure are detectable during middle adulthood — years before the first clinical signs of dementia become apparent. PREVENT researchers believe that mid-life is a golden time to introduce interventions, including modifying of lifestyle factors, to help prevent the onset of dementia. The PREVENT-Dementia research program is identifying early biomarkers of the disease, before symptoms and brain damage occur, so that we can target these individuals early with interventions that may delay the onset of the condition.
PREVENT’s findings to date have been novel and had high impact, with over 40 publications. PREVENT’s work has also directly led to expansion of the study into a professional rugby and football sports players head injury comparison group, which recently received almost £2 million funding from the English Football Association and FIFA.
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GBHI Members Mentioned
Lorina Naci, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology
Brian Lawlor, MD, FRCPI, FRCPsych, MRIA
Founding Director, Trinity College Dublin
Tavia Evans, BSc, MSc, PhD
Neuroscientist
Joaquín Migeot, MSc, PhD
Neuroscientist
Kwaku Sarfo Manu, MBChB, MPH
General Medical Practitioner
Olga Castañer, MD, PhD
Doctor
Temitope Farombi, MBBS, PhD, FMCP (Neurol)
Neurologist